A Tennessee legislator has filed a bill prohibiting local education associations (LEA) or public charter schools from doing business with entities that perform abortions.
This is the latest pro-life bill to be proposed during the current Tennessee General Assembly Session.
State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-SD28) filed SB2158 on Monday. The bill caption states:
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to education.
Education – As introduced, prohibits an LEA or public charter school from knowingly entering into an agreement with an individual or entity that performs abortions, induces abortions, provides abortion referrals, or provides funding, advocacy, or other support for abortions. – Amends TCA Title 49.
LEAs are local education associations, an option for homeschooling in Tennessee.
SB2158 stresses the importance of children, life, and family, saying: “WHEREAS, children are a gift from God and deserve our protection from the time of conception and continuing into their childhood and education; and WHEREAS, family life education is a fundamentally important aspect of education, and the teaching of family life requires a dignity and respect for life.”
SB 2158 amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1303, adding prohibitions for LEAs and public schools or open-enrollment public charter schools to enter into transactions to “assist in teaching family life” with an entity or an individual that performs abortions, induces abortions; provides abortion referrals, or provides funding, advocacy, or other support for abortion.
Hensley, a physician, earlier this session filed legislation banning biological males from competing in women’s collegiate sports. That legislation amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 7, Part 1 by adding:
Intercollegiate or intramural athletic teams or sports that are designated for “females,” “women,” or “girls” and that are sponsored, sanctioned, or operated by a public institution of higher education or by a private institution of higher education whose students or teams compete against public institutions of higher education shall not be open to students of the male sex.
It prescribes that institutions of higher learning are directed to use the sex listed on a person’s original birth certificate. If an original birth certificate is not available, other evidence demonstrating the individual’s sex must be provided. Collegiate teams that are designated for males, coed, or mixed are not restricted. That legislation is currently awaiting action in the Senate Education Committee. It has been withdrawn in the state House.
If passed, this legislation would take effect on July 1, 2022.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
