My friend who lives in Sevier County, TN, posted an article this morning from the NBC Affiliate in Memphis claiming that one of our esteemed Tennessee State Representatives has introduced a bill to classify children born as a result of artificial insemination as “illegitimate.” I haven’t seen this on any major news sources, and I thought that there was no way this was true, that maybe she was taken in by some fake news, but when I went to Representative Terri Lynn Weaver’s House Page, I found the information from the bill that she (and Senator Joey Hensley) introduced to the legislature on February 9th.
According to the NBC Affiliate:
A proposed bill in the Tennessee General Assembly seeks to classify children born through artificial insemination as illegitimate children. Representative Terry Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) proposed HB 1406, which is intended to repeal the current statute regarding children born through artificial insemination.
TCA 68-3-306 provides for the child to be considered the legitimate child of a husband and wife if the child is born through artificial insemination and with the consent of the husband. “A child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination, with consent of the married woman’s husband, is deemed to be the legitimate child of the husband and wife.” (TCA 68-3-306)
However, the bill proposed by Weaver, with the Senate equivalent (SB 1153) proposed by Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), would repeal that statute and label the child as illegitimate despite the couple being married and both consenting.
For some strange reason, my friend, who has been trying to have a child for years, and has spent thousands of dollars getting help from science to conceive, was upset about this? (sarcasm alert)
There is no explanation on the Facebook page, other news sites, or anyplace that I can find that tells the purpose behind this bill, however, Weaver has been a proud advocate of keeping “teh gays” from getting married.
If you’re curious about Weaver’s character, her wikipedia page states the following:
Terri Lynn Weaver posted a photo onto Facebook with her standing next to her Pastor, who was dressed as Aunt Jemima in full black face, and left the comment, “Aunt Jemima, you is so sweet.” In her apology, she claimed “I’m the least racist of anyone. Some of my greatest friends are black.” Terri Lynn is a singer-songwriter who claims to have three number one gospel songs and a female singer and entertainer of the year award from 1993, though the only reference for this claim is her own website.
Weaver’s TN Assembly page can be found here: wapp.capitol.tn.gov/…