abortion Archives - Baptist & Reflector

JUDGE STRIKES DOWN TENNESSEE ABORTION WAITING-PERIOD LAW

October 15, 2020

By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

DETROIT — Pro-life advocates and the state expressed their disappointment with a federal court decision Oct. 14 that invalidated a Tennessee law requiring a 48-hour waiting period before an abortion.

Senior federal judge Bernard Friedman ruled from Detroit, Mich., the law is unconstitutional and permanently blocked the state from enforcing a waiting period. The 2015 law “substantially burdens” women who want an abortion in Tennessee and is “gratuitously demeaning” to those who have decided to undergo the procedure, Friedman wrote.

The state legislature approved the waiting period after a 2014 referendum granted power to the law-making body to act on abortion.

Friedman’s ruling marked the second time in three months a federal court has prevented enforcement of a Tennessee pro-life law. In late July, federal judge William Campbell issued a preliminary injunction against a new law that prohibits an abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. The measure also bans an abortion when the doctor knows the request for the procedure is driven by the race, sex or health/disability diagnosis of a child. [Read more…]

PRO-LIFE ADVOCATE JOHNSON URGES BELIEVERS TO ‘WORK TO SAVE EACH AND EVERY ONE’

September 16, 2020

By Sarah Goff
Union University news office

Abby Johnson is a pro-life advocate who authored the book, “Unplanned.”

JACKSON — The Union University Auxiliary hosted “An Evening with Abby Johnson” in the G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Johnson is a pro-life advocate and author of the award-winning book, “Unplanned,” which has been adapted into a movie of the same title.

“Unplanned” chronicles both Johnson’s experiences during her eight-year career at Planned Parenthood and her dramatic exit in 2009 after assisting with an ultrasound-guided abortion and witnessing a 13-week baby fight for and lose its life.

Johnson recounted the story of how she got involved in Planned Parenthood during college because she believed the lie told to her by a woman with the organization that Planned Parenthood was the only place where low-income women could go to receive health care. She told Johnson that without access to safe and legal abortion, women would be forced to get “back alley abortions” and would die from these unsafe procedures. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE ENACTS STRONG PRO-LIFE LAW; COURT BATTLE BEGINS

July 15, 2020

Tennessee Gov. Lee signed a law Monday (July 13) that provides some of the country’s strongest protections for unborn children, but it remained in effect less than an hour — at least for now.
Screen capture from Facebook

NASHVILLE (BP) — Tennessee enacted a law Monday (July 13) that provides some of the country’s strongest protections for unborn children, but it remained in effect less than an hour — at least for now.

Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation that prohibits an abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. The measure also bans an abortion when the doctor knows the request for the procedure is driven by the race, sex or health/disability diagnosis of a child. [Read more…]

SUPREME COURT RULING DISAPPOINTS PRO-LIFERS

July 8, 2020

Baptist Press

WASHINGTON — Pro-life leaders expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal 29 to uphold a Louisiana law designed to protect the lives and health of women by requiring hospital admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled the law — which mandated a physician must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a facility where he or she performs an abortion — violated the U.S. Constitution by imposing an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to the procedure. The justices found the Louisiana measure was nearly identical to a Texas admitting privileges law they struck down in 2016. [Read more…]

I STAND FOR LIFE, NOW MORE THAN EVER

June 22, 2020

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Tennessee state representatives took an important step toward protecting life last week when pro-life legislation passed in both the House and the Senate. The legislative approval makes a way for the bill to move on to Governor Bill Lee, who will probably sign it into law since it closely resembles the pro-life legislation he outlined in January of this year.

The bill includes a “laddered” approach, meaning it offers abortion restrictions from most restrictive to less restrictive. The intent is that if the courts strike down the most restrictive it will then hopefully allow the next tier. The restrictions are defined by the number of weeks into a pregnancy the fetus is. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE LAWMAKERS PASS PRO-LIFE BILL IN SESSION’S FINAL HOURS

June 20, 2020

By Chris Turner
cturner@tnbaptist.org

NASHVILLE — On the last day of the Tennessee General Assembly legislative session, a sweeping pro-life bill went from near extinction to becoming law.

House Bill 2263 was passed late Thursday morning June 18 and the companion Senate Bill 2196 was passed just after midnight Friday morning. The votes in both chambers were by landslide margins and Governor Bill Lee has promised to sign it once it arrives on his desk. The legislation closely resembles pro-life legislation Lee proposed in January, and that many thought derailed in this session by the COVID-19 pandemic. A late surge to close out the legislative session brought the bill from a figurative scrap heap to passage before legislators were scheduled to adjourn for the year.

One of the primary sponsors of HB 2263 was Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Old Hickory, who spoke highly of the bill and its final draft, saying that it is “a very just and a very fair law,” adding she was hopeful its passage “can protect more babies and more life.” [Read more…]

DAVIS EXTENDS URGENT CALL FOR TENN. BAPTISTS TO SUPPORT HB 1962

March 9, 2020

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBMB

There is almost a certainty that pro-life legislation in Tennessee eventually will be passed into law, but indecision abounds about what that legislation might look like when it finally lands on the governor’s desk for final approval.

One thing about which there is no longer indecision is Senate Bill 1236, or the “conception bill.”

“Senate Bill 1236 was an important bill that had strong support from Tennessee Baptists because it defined life as beginning at conception,” said Randy C. Davis, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s executive director. “We fought for it, and thousands of Tennessee Baptists faithfully got behind it. Unfortunately, that bill is dead in the water as of last week. [Read more…]

PREGNANCY CLINIC MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT

January 21, 2020

Ministry in Fayetteville has changed lives of many since opening its doors only one year ago

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FAYETTEVILLE — In one year, the Crossroads Pregnancy Clinic has made a huge impact in Fayetteville and surrounding towns in Lincoln County.

Crossroads opened its doors to ministry on Jan. 15 of last year and served more than 150 women and men from various walks of life. What’s more, decisions were made to support life and those who walked through the doors heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. [Read more…]

FOSTER FAMILY PLAYS CRITICAL ROLE IN YOUTH MINISTER’S JOURNEY TO CHRIST

January 14, 2020

BP EDITOR’S NOTE: Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is Jan. 19 in the Southern Baptist Convention.

By Tobin Perry
Baptist Press

Shaq Hardy preaches during a youth gathering at Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. Abandoned by his mother not long after birth, Hardy often leans on his experience in foster care to minister to hurting kids. — Photo courtesy of Shaq Hardy

CHATTANOOGA — Much of Shaq Hardy’s childhood is a blur. For the first 10 years of his life, he moved from foster home to foster home, never able to put down roots.

Hardy longed for a sense of home, a place where he belonged.

But what Hardy does remember during that frantic decade in foster care is where he learned John 3:16 and how much Jesus loved him. Although he wouldn’t come to faith in Christ until five years after he left his last foster home, this last family introduced him to Jesus. For the last several years he was in foster care, the family took him to church just about every week and even involved him in Awana. That’s where he learned John 3:16.

“It was them having me in church that made me realize that the only thing that would last is Jesus,” Hardy said. “I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew I needed to find Jesus.” [Read more…]

STORIES THAT SHAPED 2019

January 7, 2020

Baptists experience monumental year: I Stand for Life initiative, record GOTM gifts among top news stories

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — Top news stories in the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2019 included the “I Stand for Life” initiative in support of SB (Senate Bill) 1236, the election of Charles Fowler as president of Carson-Newman University and record giving for the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions.

The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board initiated the I Stand for Life initiative on July 23 to garner thousands of signatures from Tennessee Baptists in an effort to let Tennessee lawmakers know that Tennessee Baptists would like to see legislation passed that protects the lives of unborn children.

The petition campaign was initiated by Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB who had a desire to make sure Tennessee Baptists were informed about the issue and that their voices were heard. [Read more…]

Ministry in Fayetteville has changed lives of many since opening its doors only one year ago

Baptists experience monumental year: I Stand for Life initiative, record GOTM gifts among top news stories

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