Nashville, Tenn. — A U.S. District Court Judge has temporarily suspended Tennessee’s statute that criminalizes assisting minors in obtaining an abortion without parental consent. Judge Aleta Trauger’s ruling on Friday serves as a significant pause to the state law as it works its way through legal proceedings.
The contentious measure, pushed through by Tennessee’s Republican-majority Legislature and sanctioned by Governor Bill Lee, criminalizes any adult who “intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports” a minor within the state for the purpose of securing an abortion, without the requisite parental authorization. Violators face potential prosecution under a Class A misdemeanor, carrying a sentence of almost a year in jail. Notably, the statute offers no exceptions for minors who are pregnant as a result of incest.
The ruling came shortly after Democratic State Rep. Aftyn Behn and Nashville attorney Rachel Welty challenged the law, marking the suit’s filing on the second anniversary of the landmark decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. This Supreme Court decision shifted the power to regulate abortion to individual states.
Judge Trauger highlighted in her decision that the statute potentially infringed upon First Amendment rights by restricting free speech regarding abortion. She criticized the law for being “unconstitutionally vague,” especially taking issue with the undefined use of “recruits” in the legislative text.
“The freedom of speech…is a protection available to everyone, for the interconnected benefit of everyone, because messages do not gain their fullest power by being uttered, but by being spread,” Trauger noted in her decision.
Rep. Behn hailed the judge’s ruling as a landmark win for both free speech and abortion access, emphasizing that the decision does more than just protect Tennesseans. It supports the ongoing national dialogue about abortion care and ensures the continuous sharing of information and advocacy across state lines.
The suspended Tennessee law is similar to legislation already enacted in Idaho, known as the “abortion trafficking” law — also currently blocked by a federal judge. This judicial pushback highlights a growing trend surrounding the judicial scrutiny of restrictive abortion laws across the United States.
Under the Tennessee statute, abortions remain banned at any stage of pregnancy except in select circumstances, such as molar pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies, or when necessary to save the mother’s life or prevent major injury. Physicians face the burden of utilizing “reasonable medical judgment” in determining the necessity of these procedures.
As the legal challenges continue, a separate lawsuit is also in motion seeking further clarification on Tennessee’s stringent abortion ban. This aligns with broader national debates and legal battles over abortion rights as states navigate the post-Roe landscape. The temporary blockage of the Tennessee law underscores a critical phase in the legal contestations over abortion rights, marking another chapter in what is likely to be an enduring legal and social saga.