House Health committee hears bill targeting out-of-state abortion-pill shipments, rolls measure three weeks

Members of the Tennessee House Health Full Committee briefly took up House Bill 5 and heard testimony before postponing the measure for three weeks.

A committee member described the bill as creating a civil cause of action for the family of an unborn child allegedly killed when abortion-inducing drugs are sent into Tennessee from other states. The member told the panel, "in Tennessee, there are 9000 abortions a year caused by actors from outside the state sending abortion pills into Tennessee illegally," and cited what he said were 750 such chemical abortions in June 2025 and 12,178 total abortions in Tennessee in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kathy Waterbury, Executive Director of Confidential Care, a pregnancy center in West Tennessee that also provides telecare, told the committee about clients' experiences with the abortion pill. She recounted a case of a 17-year-old who took abortion pills at home and later called counseling staff "hysterical," saying she believed she had aborted a formed fetus. Waterbury said another client crossed state lines to obtain pills, experienced severe vomiting and was referred to an emergency room. "This is not healthcare, this is not doing the best that we can do for women in Tennessee. We must and can do better," Waterbury said.

The committee took no questions for the witness. The chair said, "without objection, House Bill 5 has been rolled 3 weeks," postponing formal consideration and any vote. The committee adjourned with the bill placed on the calendar to return in three weeks.

The testimony and sponsor remarks provided the record for the committee's next consideration of House Bill 5; no legal or evidentiary findings were made during the brief session and factual claims cited to outside sources were not independently verified by the committee during the meeting.