A bill to add a new governor-appointed seat to the state’s Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities will move to the House health committee for discussion. Rep. Dawn White is proposing to add a member seat dedicated to an ambulatory surgery center representative, bringing the number of board members to 19. The board is a division of the Tennessee Department … Read More
This year our General Assembly has a chance to take a major step forward in protecting victims of domestic violence from repeated abuse. Protecting victims is just one part of ending domestic violence, but an important part. Domestic violence is a scourge in our community. On average, every 20 minutes, an act of domestic violence occurs in Davidson County, and … Read More
Last week, Tenn. Republican State Senator Dr. Steven Dickerson of District 20 in Nashville introduced Senate Bill 1677, a proposal aimed at allowing women to purchase birth control directly from pharmacists without first obtaining a doctor’s prescription. Dr. Dickerson, an anesthesiologist, wrote in an op-ed in The Tennessean, “By some accounts, almost half of pregnancies are either unintentional or ‘mistimed.’ … Read More
WASHINGTON COUNTY, TN (WJHL) – Tennessee’s Opioid Abuse Reduction Act working group thinks Tennessee should do more to fight its painkiller epidemic and reduce the number of overdose deaths. Lawmakers created the group last year. The state recently released a 265-page report, which includes four recommendations. “I think we’ve made great progress, but it’s such a huge thing,” Frontier Health … Read More
Two state senators are working on separate versions of legislation that seek to accomplish the same thing: giving adult women in Tennessee easier access to birth control. The legislation would allow women 18 or older to obtain contraceptives from pharmacists in addition to physicians, who currently write prescriptions for birth control. The contraception bill is coming from two lawmakers on opposite sides of … Read More
There’s a push to get over-the-counter birth control in the state of Tennessee. Tennessee Senator Steve Dickerson, who is also a medical doctor, is working on a bill to make birth control more accessible to patients. They would still have to see a pharmacist to get the medication, but they wouldn’t need a prescription. “It’s going to be a real … Read More
A Nashville lawmaker proposes making birth control pills available over the counter, an idea that could make Tennessee the third state to allow women to buy oral contraceptives without a prescription. Republican State Sen. Steve Dickerson says he will soon introduce a bill that would require a woman only to talk to a pharmacist before buying an oral contraceptive. That would … Read More