Tennessee to become first state in South to protect access to IVF, birth control

Read the full article from the Tennessee Lookout

In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, Tennessee lawmakers passed a landmark bill that protects access to fertility treatments and birth control—making Tennessee the first Southern state to enshrine these reproductive rights into law.

The Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act, which goes into effect July 1, was introduced by Republican women legislators and backed by both conservative and progressive voices, including those who have personally benefited from IVF. The bill, which is just five sentences long, affirms the right of healthcare providers to offer, and individuals to receive, fertility treatments and contraceptives.

“The law provides critical stability and peace of mind in an otherwise volatile political environment for women and families,” said Natalie Schilling of AWAKE Tennessee, which advocates for the rights of children and women. 

Despite initial ease in committee and unanimous Senate support, the bill faced unexpected resistance on the House floor. Some Republican lawmakers attempted to tie the legislation to the state’s strict anti-abortion stance, arguing it could enable the destruction of embryos and threaten future anti-abortion efforts. These last-minute objections, including a failed attempt to amend the bill and a letter from 11 Republicans urging a veto, caught the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Iris Rudder, by surprise. Rudder, who supports Tennessee’s abortion ban, emphasized the legislation’s separate focus on family-building tools like IVF and contraception. She expressed frustration that her male colleagues failed to grasp the bill’s significance for women, stating she was “naive” to assume it would pass without controversy. The emotional debate underscored growing tensions within the Republican party over reproductive rights in a post-Roe landscape.