Two States, Two Realities: Comparing Abortion Access in Massachusetts and Tennessee

Photo cred: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey turns toward supporters after signing legislation strengthening abortion protections and prioritizing access to care at the Massachusetts State House on Aug. 10, 2026, in Boston. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images), https://www.foxnews.com/media/board-certified-obgyn-warns-massachusetts-late-term-abortion-law-exposes-mothers-danger

Last week, Massachusetts amended their 24-week abortion ban to now allow a woman to abort her baby all the way up to birth. It became the 11th state to allow a doctor to perform a full-term abortion. Other states with the same legal protections are Alaska, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan, Vermont, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia.

Twenty-one states currently ban abortions after “viability”, which is when it is determined that a baby can survive outside the womb, which is typically identified to be around 24 weeks.

Seven states have banned abortion up until 18 weeks of gestation.

Thirteen have a total ban and are labeled as “most restrictive” according to the Guttmacher Institute, the leading research organization on abortion in the United States.

One state in our nation, Nevada, criminalizes any woman who ends a pregnancy after 24 weeks through a chemical abortion. This past year, they reported 16,200 abortions were performed in clinics; in 2023, 69% of abortions were done through pills. The law has been on their books since 1911. 

Massachusetts is in a battle to save the lives of babies, and so is Tennessee. During a Republican candidate debate in House District 27 in this recent campaign, Rep. Michele Reneau and her opponent Tony Hullender were asked about our state’s abortion policies and what they both plan to do if elected.  Mr. Hullender responded first, stating our policies are some of the strongest in the nation and abortions are no longer happening in our state, so therefore he did not need to make any changes to our current policies.

Rep. Reneau clarified that indeed, abortions are happening everyday across our state and babies need us to continue to fight for their right to be born.

Thankfully, Rep. Reneau won her race and will have the opportunity to continue to fight for these very policies. 

In the pro-life movement in Tennessee, we have a division which perhaps is greater than the divide between pro-life and pro-choice. We have a strong movement of pro-life groups who primarily advocate for the mother. They want to ensure each woman who is considering abortion has the opportunity to sit in a pregnancy center, to hear the heart beat of their pre-born baby, to receive emotional and practical support to bring the child to life.  Their focus is to support the woman.

On the other side of the pro-life divide are the “abolitionists”. This group advocates for the baby, the pre-born child who does not have a voice, or even a choice, as to whether or not they will be able to breathe fresh air and be given the option for life. 

Judging by the abortion numbers in our state, something needs to change or we will continue to see an increase, year after year, of babies not being given a chance at life.

In Tennessee, 7,700 babies were killed in 2025 by chemical abortions. This is four years after Roe v. Wade was over-turned; our state’s trigger ban went into effect, and babies continued to not be saved. And not only did they continue to be aborted, but we’ve seen an almost 30% increase in abortions between 2024 and 2025.

In 2023, 1,820 abortions were counted in Tennessee.

In 2024, the number rose to 5,820.

In 2025, we had 7,540. 

These are only the numbers that have been reported by tele-health or through the #wecount movement, an organized effort by pro-choice groups to try and prove the need for reproductive health services.

In April of this year, 690 babies were killed in Tennessee. We have lost 130 more Tennesseans compared to last April, 230 more than the year before. The number has increased every month since out of state tele-health “clinics” began using our own state laws against us in 2023, and making abortion accessible again, as long as the woman does it herself. Here are the numbers, directly from the Guttmacher Institute:

Tennessee, we are in a crisis and we cannot depend on the government to protect moms or babies. In 2025, two pieces of legislation were sponsored by Republicans, one to hold abortion pill distributors responsible (HB5/SB419) and one to criminalize the act of abortion (HB570/SB738). Both were killed. Neither approach to preventing abortion in Tennessee made any movement forward.

We must ask ourselves, as individuals and families, what are we doing to help prevent abortion in Tennessee?  The killing of babies has been Satan’s strategy since the beginning, and it will continue as long as humans exist on Earth. The family is the foundation of our country’s unique heritage, and it’s the family that will be attacked until Christ returns. 

As conservatives, it’s up to us. We must elect men and women who will prioritize the protection of the pre-born. But more importantly, we must put our values into action. Massachusetts now allows women to abort their children up until the moment they are born.  In Tennessee, we allow women to order pills online and abort their babies as a form of birth control. We cannot look at Massachusetts and be appalled without looking at our own legislation with grave concern.

Ultimately, it’s up to the moms and dads across our state. We must educate our children, who will in turn educate their children, about the sanctity of life and God’s plan for marriage. We must not give an inch to the abortion movement, we must stand firm and fight this evil on all fronts, because it certainly will not go down easily.

Resources:
https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/i-lost-a-lot-of-hope-nevada-pays-100k-to-woman-convicted-for-miscarriage-via-1911-law

https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-abortion-bans

https://www.guttmacher.org/monthly-abortion-provision-study?state=TN#the-estimates