House subcommittee votes against protecting right to contraception
A group of Tennessee doctors affiliated with the healthcare advocacy group Protect My Care spoke out after a legislative committee refused to support an effort to protect the right of Tennesseans to access contraception.
On a 5-2 vote, the House Population Health Subcommittee rejected legislation (HB1943) that would have guaranteed the right of Tennesseans to access and use contraception.
Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care physician practicing in middle Tennessee said of the vote, "Let’s be very clear - this vote today - this is your state government attacking your freedom to birth control. Tennessee has a strong bipartisan history of expanding contraceptive access to Tennesseans who want and need it. But today’s vote is a shocking sign of the extremism that controls our state government."
Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who sponsored the legislation, said after the vote, "I sponsored this legislation because I believe in codifying all Tennesseans’ freedom to birth control, like the pill and emergency contraception. I’m calling on all Tennesseans who support our freedom to birth control to call their state lawmakers and demand to know why they are attacking these basic freedoms."
