Tennessee legislation · 114th General Assembly
Tennessee SB1681: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 63 and Title 68, relative to medical facility procedures for women experiencing certain medical conditions.
Status: Chaptered, May 27, 2026
Fiscal Summary NOT SIGNIFICANT Bill Summary This bill prohibits a hospital emergency department, including a satellite emergency department, from denying to a woman who presents at such facility and purports or, if incapacitated, appears to be pregnant and experiencing active labor, other symptoms associated with active labor, or an emergency medical condition, an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the emergency department, including ancillary services routinely available to the emergency department, to determine whether or not an emergency medical condition or active labor exists. If a hospital emergency department determines that a pregnant woman described in the prior paragraph has an emergency medical condition or is in active labor, then this bill requires the hospital affiliated with the emergency department to provide either of the following: Within the staff and facilities available at the hospital, for such further medical examination and such treatment as may be required to stabilize the medical condition. For transfer of the pregnant woman to another medical facility in accordance with this bill. When providing further medical examination and treatment to stabilize the medical condition, this bill provides that a hospital is deemed to meet such requirement with respect to the pregnant woman if the hospital offers the pregnant woman such further medical examination and treatment and informs the pregnant woman, or a legally authorized person acting on the woman's behalf, of the risks and benefits to the pregnant woman of such examination and treatment, but the pregnant woman, or the legally authorized person acting on the woman's behalf, refuses to consent to the examination and treatment. The hospital must take all reasonable steps to secure the pregnant woman's or authorized
What the bill says
From the introduced text:
Conference Committee Report on House Bill No. 1943 / Senate Bill No. 1681 The House and Senate Conference Committee appointed pursuant to motions to resolve the differences between the two houses on House Bill No. 1943 (Senate Bill No. 1681) has met and recommends that all amendments be deleted. The Committee further recommends that the following amendment be adopted: by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2, is amended by adding the following as a new section: (a) As used in this section: (1) "Emergency medical condition" means: (A) A medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, including severe pain, such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in: (i) Placing the health of the individual or, with respect to a pregnant woman, the health of the woman or the woman's unborn child, in serious jeopardy; (ii) Serious impairment to bodily functions; or (iii) Serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part; and (B) With respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions: (i) That there is inadequate time to effect a safe transfer to another hospital before delivery; or (ii) That transfer may pose a threat to the health or safety of the woman or the …