Tennessee Bill Would Expand Wrongful Death Laws to Fertilization
HB1528 imports an abortion-law definition into civil law
You already know about the efforts to imbue fetal personhood into every slice of law in Tennessee, following Texas’s footprint. This could be it.
A newly proposed bill would change how wrongful-death suits can be brought in Tennessee by expanding who qualifies as a “person” under the law. Currently, Tennessee’s wrongful-death statute applies to a person beginning in utero—already one of the broadest definitions in the country. According to Pregnancy Justice, only Texas goes further, explicitly extending wrongful-death claims to fertilization.
The proposed House bill, HB1528, by Rep. Gino Bulso, along with a companion Senate bill, SB1743, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, would move Tennessee into that category. The bill imports an abortion-law definition of “unborn child” that begins at fertilization into wrongful-death law, making wrongful-death lawsuits potentially applicable even before a fertilized egg is implanted in the uterus.
Why wrongful-death law changes everything
How would that play out? Inside a person’s body, there is no way to detect the moment fertilization occurs. Outside the body, such as in IVF, fertilization is a verifiable step in the process. That distinction matters. It creates a clear pathway for civil lawsuits related to the creation, handling, and destruction of embryos.
This is where it gets tricky. Wrongful-death lawsuits don’t stand on their own. They only exist if the person who died would have had the right to sue if they’d lived. Under this proposal, a fertilized egg could be treated as the injured legal subject, allowing parents or next of kin to bring a wrongful-death claim on its behalf.
Bulso has attempted to advance fetal personhood through multiple avenues in the past, all of which were blocked, failed, or stalled. This approach works differently: by redefining “person” through civil law, fetal personhood can be embedded quietly, without a standalone resolution.
How this spreads beyond abortion
This is the exact path Alabama went down when it effectively made IVF unworkable in the state—a move lawmakers later rushed to clarify. After an IVF clinic accidentally destroyed embryos, parents sued, and the court found the embryos were legal persons under Alabama’s wrongful-death framework. The result was immediate legal chaos, with IVF providers forced to pause services until lawmakers intervened.
That is how this could play out in Tennessee if this bill becomes law. We don’t need a standalone resolution to make fetal personhood effective. Once a “person” is defined as a fertilized egg for wrongful-death purposes, that definition can shape how other laws are interpreted. It may start in wrongful-death law, but it won’t end there.
The House bill has been assigned to the Civil Justice Subcommittee. It is not currently listed on the agenda for Wednesday, January 21, at 1:30 p.m. CT, but it could still be added at the last minute.
So someone who takes Plan B could be charged with wrongful death? Is that part of their future strategy? How would they prove the egg was fertilized? Bizarre.
Let’s try stupid moves to get stupid prizes. So much time and effort doing something wrong.