NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee's attorney general — in an exclusive interview — insisted he has no interest in targeting women who go out of state seeking abortions.
Jonathan Skrmetti faced those allegations in recent weeks after he joined 18 other Republican attorneys general in a letter opposing a proposed rule from the Biden administration that would prohibit abortion health records from states where abortion is legal from being released to investigators in states where the procedure is illegal.
For the first time, the AG hinted that any such effort to prosecute women for out-of-state travel would face serious constitutional issues.
"It's just a total canard that I might be going after people who go out of state for abortions," Skrmetti told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Since taking office almost a year ago, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has found himself facing repeated criticisms from the left for some of his positions.
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Following the release of the letter from the 19 Republican AGs, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow claimed that Skrmetti "now says he intends to effectively follow you out of state to see if you got an abortion somewhere else, even in a state where it is legal."
"That's just not true," Skrmetti said.
The Tennessee AG argued that the proposed rule would limit the state's ability to investigate the shipment of abortion drugs into Tennessee in defiance of the state's ban.
"If somebody is sending abortion drugs into Tennessee, that's a violation of both federal law and Tennessee state law — and I previously sent a letter to some of the drug companies just letting them know it's illegal to ship these drugs into Tennessee," he explained.
And yet, the fears among abortion rights advocates persist that the GOP attorneys general want to target women who seek abortions.
"Tennessee's laws do not affect women, they target the providers," Skrmetti said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "If the legislature passed a law that said it's illegal for women to cross state lines to get an abortion, could these records not be used to prosecute those women?"
"Well, I think there's a real constitutional issue that would have to be looked at as to whether the legislature could do that," Skrmetti responded.
"I mean, this is America. People have a right to travel. And so — I don't want to speculate too much — but I think there would be significant constitutional impediments if that were ever an issue."
Still, abortion rights advocates fear that, even with those hesitations, some Republican lawmakers still may want to test that legal question -- which is why there is so much distrust of the AG's position.
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
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