At a small pro-abortion rally held on Wednesday at Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville, State Senator Heidi Campbell (R-Nashville), Democratic nominee for the 5th Congressional District, emphasized her support for abortion in a speech she gave.
Every pregnancy is unique and complex and that’s exactly why families should be trusted to make decisions for themselves — without interference from a government mandate.
In November, freedom is on the ballot. pic.twitter.com/qAfrhM6GjZ
— Heidi Campbell for Congress (@Campbell4TN) August 24, 2022
Campbell’s speech came the day before Tennessee’s anti-abortion Human Life Protection Act, which was triggered due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, goes into effect as planned on Thursday.
“We are here today because our freedom to start our own family on our own terms is being taken away from us. The Supreme Court overruled over 50 years of constitutional rights and privacy protections for women,” she said.
“And now Governor Bill Lee and the supermajority will enforce a law that says women and girls are not allowed to control their own future. Tomorrow, it will be a crime for any doctor in any situation to provide an abortion – not in cases of rape, not in cases of incest, not in cases of human trafficking, not in cases where little girls as young as 10 years old are impregnated by a family member, not even to save the life of a mother during a crisis,” continued Campbell.
“This is not who we are. Tennesseans do not want pregnant women to die because their body or doctor were afraid of a felony,” she added.
Campbell added in a tweet promoting the speech, “Every pregnancy is unique and complex and that’s exactly why families should be trusted to make decisions for themselves — without interference from a government mandate. In November, freedom is on the ballot.”
Campbell’s remarks are deceptive, given that the law contains a clause with a scenario detailing allowances for emergency circumstances: “The physician determined, in the physician’s good faith medical judgment, based upon the facts known to the physician at the time, that the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
It additionally states: “This section does not subject the pregnant woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to criminal conviction or penalty.”
The Human Life Protection Act penalizes medical professionals who perform abortions, stating, “A person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion commits the offense of criminal abortion. Criminal abortion is a Class C felony.”
In contrast, Campbell’s Republican opponent, Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, is proudly pro-life.
His website says, “I believe that life begins at conception, and we are duty-bound to protect it at every stage until natural death. The unborn are the least capable of defending themselves, and in the most desperate need of protection. America is a nation that recognizes and honors the intrinsic value of all human life; therefore, I will commit to protecting the rights of the unborn from the point of conception, block taxpayer funding of abortions everywhere, and defund Planned Parenthood.”
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Heidi Campbell” by Heidi Campbell.Â
