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.
“I helped build the pyre, but I never thought somebody would actually set it on fire!”
Proof positive that at least some politicians think politics is merely a game to be won, not a job that directly affects people’s lives.
cute twist on the “leopards eating my face” trope
Yeah.
What the actual fuck. Is there not some way to immediately sack this person for being so shit at the job they don’t even fundamentally understand what it is?
“I’m a rich white guy - it never occurred to me that anyone actually has to FOLLOW these laws!”
Recall, but that’s up to the constituents.