NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Bailey Jones knows how it feels to be asked if she was pregnant at the wrong time.
"One question kept coming up and lingering in my mind: 'Could you be pregnant?' The question of the hour. 'Not 'are you OK?' 'Do you need a hug?' 'How dare he?' 'Could you be pregnant?'"
Jones said she was raped and nearly murdered five years ago not two miles from the state capitol, where she spoke about a new bill that would codify the right to contraception in Tennessee state law.
"The answer was no. I was not pregnant, and I was over 99% sure, solely because I had a Mirena IUD inserted six weeks after my first son," Jones said. "I thank God every single day for that little piece of metal in my uterus. Because of that IUD, I did not have to carry the child of a rapist to term — 40 weeks of carrying a child forced on to me as a product of violent forced conception."
Jones stood aside Sen. Charlene Oliver, D-Nashville, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, who both said they would take this bill before other members in the new year. The legislature convenes Jan. 9. The purpose of the bill is to make access to oral contraception, intrauterine devices, emergency contraception and condoms enshrined in Tennessee law.
Oliver and Johnson said the bill emerged because of the state's restrictive abortion ban. Tennessee's total abortion ban came in 2022 after the Dobbs decision caused Roe v. Wade to fall in the Supreme Court of the United States. The Republican legislature prepared for the moment. Trigger laws in Tennessee went into effect in less than 30 days following the Human Life Protection Act voted on by the legislature in 2019.
The precise language of the bill will go before lawmakers in January. Legislators said they hoped that others in the Tennessee General Assembly would understand that contraception wasn't just about pregnancies but for women's health across the board.
"Birth control access is responsible and ethical public policy," Dr. Amy Gordon Bono said. "They’ve all been a part of routine since I’ve wanted to be a doctor. Where so much of what I thought was standard law and standard medicine, I feel like what I once knew and I worry for the safety of my family."
In the 2023 session, Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, tried to bring this issue to the forefront, but it was killed early in the bill process. Oliver and Johnson are hoping to get buy-in before 2024, and they said they plan to start with certain members of the Republican-controlled supermajority.
"This is our first step, and we are planning to have those conversations with whomever will," Sen. Oliver said. "There are 20 women in the legislature. As a woman, you should be on board with this. We plan to start there."
