NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The approval of a constitutional amendment to give the state Legislature more power to regulate abortions in Tennessee may have opened the floodgates to proposals from Republican lawmakers in the upcoming session, but Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he doesn’t expect most of them to succeed.
The Blountville Republican told reporters on Thursday that he expects the Legislature to focus only on restoring laws on mandatory counseling, a waiting period and clinic regulations that were struck down as part of a 2000 state Supreme Court decision that abortion was protected in the Tennessee Constitution as part of a woman’s fundamental right to privacy.
Ramsey said he opposes a proposal to require women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound between one and three days before the procedure.
