TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 13, 2022

State Democrats yesterday said they plan to pursue legislation to amend the near-total abortion ban that is expected to take effect in mid-August. Though they decried the full ban, they said they would take incremental steps to change to the law the Tennessean reports. Such changes could include allowing abortions in cases of rape or incest and for adolescent victims of sexual abuse, and removing criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions. Tennessee currently enforces a 2020 bill that bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected. The so-called “trigger law” provides a narrow carve-out for abortions performed to save the life of the mother or prevent the "serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function." It does not protect doctors from arrest but allows doctors to affirmatively prove that the abortion was medically necessary.