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  • 2022-05-13 (xsd:date)
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  • Tennessee abortion bill does not ban morning-after pill (en)
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  • Posts on social media say Tennessee banned emergency contraception pills following the leak of a draft opinion from the US Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade, a ruling that made abortion a right nationwide. The claim is false; the state's legislation does impose stricter rules on abortion-inducing medication, but it does not mention Plan B, which is a contraceptive. Tennessee just banned Plan B and made it a crime punishable by a $50,000 fine to order it, said Pam Keith , a former Democratic US congressional candidate from Florida, in a May 8, 2022 tweet . A screenshot of a tweet taken on May 8, 2022 The claim gathered tens of thousands of likes before it was deleted. It was also widely shared on Facebook here , here , here and here . The posts come after the early May story by Politico that showed the US Supreme Court's conservative majority was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling. Keith's claim is incorrect, as some people on Twitter -- including a CNN reporter -- have noted. On May 5, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a new law restricting access to abortion-inducing medication. That triggered the spread of erroneous claims online regarding access to emergency contraception, or Plan B, in the state. The law, titled the Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act -- or Public Chapter 1001 -- bans the administration of abortion-inducing medication by mail or online. It also sets heavy penalties for physicians who transgress the new measures. An individual who intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly violates this bill commits a Class E felony and, upon conviction, will be fined an amount not to exceed $50,000, be imprisoned for a term not to exceed 20 years, or both, the law says. A criminal penalty shall not be assessed against a patient upon whom a chemical abortion is attempted or performed. Factfile on US abortion rights, focusing on the landmark Roe v. Wade case of 1973 ( AFP Graphics / Gal ROMA, Valentina BRESCHI) Contrary to claims online, the legislation does not apply to the morning-after pill. Kati Coats, a research analyst for Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Mike Bell , who sponsored the bill , told AFP the law regulates abortion-inducing drugs, which Plan B is not. The definition of an abortion-inducing drug is limited to a medicine, drug, or substance taken with the intent to terminate a 'clinically diagnosable pregnancy,' she said. Additionally, even if the language did include Plan B as an abortion-inducing drug, Public Chapter 1001 does not ban abortion-inducing drugs, rather it requires them to be dispensed by a qualified physician after an in-person examination, rather than by a pharmacist or through the mail. Several health policy and law experts confirmed to AFP that claims of a Plan B ban in Tennessee are false. The bill criminalizes telehealth prescriptions for medical abortion pills. It also makes it a crime to receive these pills through the mail, said Lucy Jewel , a law professor at the University of Tennessee. But Plan B is not a medical abortion pill. Plan B is not covered by the bill. AFP has debunked numerous claims about abortion here . (en)
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