Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has faced a wave of reactions after her recent vote against Congressional legislation aimed at safeguarding contraceptives from government meddling.
A group of Senate Democrats proposed the Right to Contraception Act in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. This landmark ruling previously recognized abortion as a fundamental right protected by the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
According to Sen. Blackburn, the Right to Contraception Act is redundant as contraception is already legal and there is no current threat to its accessibility.
Democrats have been accused of spreading false information regarding the attack on contraception to instill fear and confusion among the masses. The Republicans have clarified that there is no Supreme Court ruling that poses a threat to a woman’s right to contraception. They are strongly in favor of preserving this right and keeping it safe and legal. To confront the misleading narrative propagated by the Democrats, a resolution has been introduced that aims to expose their dishonesty for what it really is – a blatant lie.
Multiple Republican Senators have co-sponsored a proclamation introduced by Sen. Blackburn that affirms the right to contraception.
In March 2022, Blackburn posted a video on X where she criticized Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was then a nominee for Supreme Court Justice. During her criticism, Blackburn referred to several Supreme Court rulings, including Griswold v. Connecticut. This landmark ruling recognized the Constitutional protection of the liberty of married couples to use contraceptives without government interference. However, Blackburn called it “Constitutionally unsound.”
During the previous legislative session, a bill was introduced in Tennessee with the intention of safeguarding access to birth control and in vitro fertilization (IVF). The proposed bill would have specifically outlined that IVF and contraception were not covered by the state’s abortion prohibition. This measure was developed in response to the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in February 2024, which recognized embryos produced through IVF as children.
Some Republicans opposed the bill, stating that they believed it was unnecessary. One member even went so far as to describe the language used in the legislation as “more confusing” than clarifying. As a result, the bill did not pass.
News 2 has been approached by various advocates who have expressed their concerns about the possibility of changes in the near future.
Briana Perry from Healthy and Free Tennessee expressed her concern about the possibility of what occurred in Alabama to happen in Tennessee. “We are just very concerned that that might not always be the case,” she said, highlighting the absence of a legal barrier preventing such occurrences in the state.
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During an interview with News 2, Governor Bill Lee was asked about his perspective on Senator Blackburn’s decision to vote against the Right to Contraception Act and whether there would be any opposition to it in Tennessee.
Governor Lee affirmed his stance on protecting contraception, stating, “I think we’ve been pretty clear in protecting, and I understand contraception is something we would protect.”
