Five years ago, when state Sen. Richard Briggs co-sponsored legislation that would codify some of the country’s most austere abortion restrictions in Tennessee – it seemed to him like little more than political theater.
“The truth was I thought it would never come to be,” he says.
But three years later it did come to be. The Tennessee state law was triggered after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal right to abortion. The state law established strict abortion bans and potential criminal penalties for doctors who violate them.
Now Briggs is fighting an uphill battle to undo some of the legislation he helped to put into place. It’s a battle that some experts say could be instructive for the rest of the country.
Irresponsible and reckless republican passes terrible, damaging law as political theater. Surprised that terrible, damaging law is terrible and damaging. Am I supposed to give him kudos for backpedaling now that checks notes THREE years have passed?
Article describes him as a “middle of the road” republican. No, sorry, those are all gone now. All you have left is an entire party devoted to a christian theocracy with what could reasonably pass as the anti-christ for its leader.
“If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made… And they won’t even admit the knife is there.” - Malcolm X.
Insert surprised Pikachu face