Brian Harris, who helped usher in abortion ban as president of Tennessee Right to Life, has died

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Brian Harris, whose decades as leader and lobbyist for the anti-abortion group Tennessee Right to Life were instrumental in ushering in the state’s 2022 near-total abortion ban, died Saturday at his home in South Carolina after an extended illness. He was 57.

Harris served as president of Tennessee Right to Life for 23 years after leaving behind the aspiring musician career that first brought him from Indiana to Tennessee and taking over a dormant Nashville chapter of the organization in 1992. Harris went on to transform Tennessee Right to Life into a powerful statewide political force whose candidate endorsements and criticisms could spell electoral victory or defeat.

Harris’ lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill ushered in a series of increasingly restrictive abortion