Denial of prenatal care to unmarried women in Tennessee raises concerns over the state's Medical Ethics Defense Act.
nashvillebanner.com
The 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act allows physicians to deny care to patients whose lifestyles they disagree with
Last Thursday, at a town hall in Jonesborough, Tennessee, a 35-year-old woman shared her story: she was denied prenatal care by her physician because they objected to the fact that she wasn’t married, nor did she plan to be. She’d been with her partner for 15 years and they have a 13-year-old child.
While going through her medical history, the physician told her that because she was unwed, they didn’t feel comfortable treating her, because it went against their values and she should seek care elsewhere. At the time of the appointment, the woman believed she was about four weeks into her pregnancy.
Now, she’s traveling out of state to Virginia to receive prenatal care.
This is the first reported case of a woman being denied prenatal care for being unmarried in the state of Tennessee.
On April 24th, Tennessee’s 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act went into effect. It gives physicians, hospital systems and insurers, among others, the legal right to deny healthcare to patients based on religious, moral or ethical beliefs. There are no protections for people in rural areas with limited options. There’s no requirement to refer patients elsewhere. And there’s no legal recourse.
She told me she was proud to be born and raised in Tennessee. She said she lives in the most beautiful part of the state and that her family spends a lot of time hiking around the lakes, enjoying the trails and seeing live music downtown. But, she said, the love she feels for her state doesn’t feel reciprocal these days. She references Tennessee’s total abortion ban and explains that just being pregnant and the idea of giving birth here terrifies her. She recalled what happened to Adriana Smith in Georgia and worries it could happen to her.
“The fear for me is if something [high risk] happens, I can’t guarantee that the provider I see is going to value my life over the life of this fetus,” she said. “And while we do very, very much want this baby, I have one here already who very, very much relies on me.”
Last Spring, House bill sponsor Rep. Bryan Terry (R–Murfreesboro) claimed the law would help Tennessee recruit and retain physicians, according to Nashville Scene. That’s false. The state has seen a decline in OB-GYNs since Tennessee’s total abortion ban went into effect. Tennessee has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country and ranks among the worst for infant mortality. Combine that with the refusal to expand Medicaid and the lack of rural maternity care, and it’s no surprise Tennessee was named the worst state in the nation to live in, by a recent CNBC study.
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This is a frankly insane story. If you work in healthcare but don't want to treat certain patients, quit. Find a new job. This is not a field where you should be able to pick and choose who gets treatment based off of stupid and irrelevant personal beliefs.