Gov. Lee says contraception access in Tennessee protected after Sen. Blackburn votes to block Right to Contraception Act

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A wave of reactions have come in after Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) voted against Congressional legislation that would have protected contraceptives from government interference.

The bill, called the Right to Contraception Act, was put forth by a group of Senate Democrats following the 2022 Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion as a fundamental liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Sen. Blackburn argued the Right to Contraception Act was unnecessary because contraception is legal and nothing is threatening access.

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She issued the following statement to News 2:

“In an attempt to sow fear and confusion, Democrats have falsely claimed that contraception is under attack to distract from President Biden’s disastrous record . No Supreme Court decision threatens a woman’s right to contraception, and I fully support keeping it safe and legal. I am introducing this resolution to expose Democrats’ dishonest narrative for exactly what it is: a bald-faced lie.”

Sen. Blackburn then filed a proclamation affirming the right to contraception , which is co-sponsored by multiple Republican Senators.

Despite that, in a video posted on X in March 2022 criticizing then-Supreme Court Justice nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Blackburn called multiple Supreme Court rulings, including Griswold v. Connecticut, which determined the Constitution protects the liberty of married couples to use contraceptives without government restriction, “Constitutionally unsound.”

“ [The rulings] confused Tennesseans, and left Congress wondering who gave the court permission to bypass our system of checks and balances?” Blackburn said in the 2022 video.

A state bill aimed at protecting birth control and in vitro fertilization (IVF) access in Tennessee was presented last legislative session. The bill would have clarified that IVF and contraception were not included in the statewide abortion ban. It was drafted after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that embryos created through IVF should be considered children in Feb. 2024.

“I would hope that we would not miss this opportunity while we’re here now with this bill to clarify, so we don’t have to come back next January with a bill to clarify while families wait six to nine to 12 months,” Rep. Harold Love, Jr. (D-Nashville), the bill’s sponsor said to lawmakers at the time.

The bill failed after some Republicans argued the legislation wasn’t necessary; one called its language “more confusing” than clarifying.

“IVF and contraception is legal in the state of Tennessee,” Rep. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) said. “There’s not something that anybody is doing to not make that legal here in Tennessee.”

However, several advocates have previously told News 2 they’re worried that could change.

“We are just very concerned that that might not always be the case,” Briana Perry with Healthy and Free Tennessee said. “There’s nothing currently in the law stopping what happened in Alabama from happening here in Tennessee.”

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News 2 asked Gov. Bill Lee his thoughts on Sen. Blackburn’s vote to block the Right to Contraception Act and whether there would be opposition to that in TN.

“I think we’ve been pretty clear in protecting, and I understand contraception is something we would protect,” Gov. Lee said.

Tennessee’s other senator, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) did not vote on the Right to Contraception Act.

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