Tennessee GOP split over adding exceptions to abortion ban

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — For months, Tennessee's Republican leaders have maintained that the state's abortion ban — known as one of the strictest in the U.S. — allows doctors to perform the procedure, should they need to in order to save the patient's life, even though the statute doesn't explicitly say so.

This assertion has been met with skepticism from health care experts, attorneys, Democrats and reproductive rights advocates, who counter that the law has created a dangerous, new legal landscape for those navigating pregnancy and for medical providers.

Since some isolated Republican lawmakers vouched for exceptions, this week a key legislative leader acknowledged that the skeptics had a point — and he thinks the law should be changed.

“You have all kinds of people who say: I don’t see it, can you point to it?” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said, about the statute's unclear language around exemptions, in an interview with The Associated Press. “If that's the intent, then let's clarify it. Let’s have the exemption for the life for the mother.”

Sexton's comments stand in stark contrast to the stances of Senate Speaker Randy McNally and Gov. Bill Lee, both Republicans. While all three lawmakers largely oppose abortion, Sexton is the lone, top Republican leader to concede that the ban could be clarified and improved.

These divisions have emerged as state lawmakers returned to Tennessee's capitol city this week to start the 2023 legislative session. They could represent the next front in the legal fight over when and how to make exceptions to abortion bans in states with Republican majorities.

With supermajority control, Tennessee Republicans are expected to advance a wide range of issues — from tax breaks, to harsher penalties for certain crimes, to policies that target...