Officials in the city of Memphis are silent after the city council pledged not to follow Tennessee’s law restricting abortions, which takes effect in August and would make performing an abortion a felony offense for doctors.
Tuesday, Councilman JB Smiley introduced a resolution Reproductive Autonomy Is Necessary (RAIN) Act, which was subsequently passed by a vote of 6-0, with two members of the city council abstaining.
That resolution says the city has the ability to decide which crimes it prosecutes and how it allocates funding for law enforcement.
The Tennessee Star reached out to Mayor Jim Strickland (D) for comment but was directed to Smiley. Ultimately, neither returned comment requests seeking further information about the city’s decision to break state law.
Smiley did, however, speak with Fox13 Memphis earlier in the week.
“This resolution speaks specifically to our ability to control funding. We have the ability to control what resources are allocated when it comes to the potential prosecution or lack thereof, potential allocation of resources to specific departments for tracking individuals who are simply trying to do the best they can as it relates to their reproductive health,” he reportedly said.
Memphis joins Nashville in vowing to ignore state law.
As The Star reported, Nashville passed a similar resolution at the beginning of July, and the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) suggested that it will not pursue or investigate doctors who violate the new abortion law.
About a month ago, a Tennessee court ruled that a “trigger law,” which would take effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned, could indeed proceed to become law.
“It is now illegal in Tennessee to abort an unborn child who has a heartbeat,” Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s office explained after the court ruling. “Specifically, the Heartbeat Bill protects unborn children at 6 weeks gestational age who have a heartbeat, and it also protects unborn children at 8 weeks gestational age or older. These provisions in the Heartbeat Bill have an affirmative defense for medical emergencies.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “JB Smiley” by JB Smiley Jr. Photo “Jim Strickland” by Aspaan-19. CC BY-SA 4.0. Background Photo “Tennessee State Capitol” by Andre Porter. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Simple enough. Violate state law, the state stops funds and/or takes over governance of the city!