‘Fetal heartbeat’ law can go into effect immediately
A six-week “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban can now take effect in Tennessee.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, June 28, vacated a lower court injunction blocking the law. The action was in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade Friday, June 24, thereby allowing states to ban abortion.
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery wrote to the Sixth Circuit almost immediately after the high court’s decision Friday, asking it to stay a district court’s injunction immediately and allow the law to take effect.
“The Court should fully stay the preliminary injunction so that the violation of Tennessee’s sovereignty can end today. The lives of Tennessee children are at stake,” Slatery wrote Monday, June 27. “The ongoing violation of Tennessee’s sovereignty and abortion of Tennessee children, among many harms, justify immediate action by this Court.”
Abortion providers challenging the law, including Choices - Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, acknowledged they no longer had a case in a letter to the court Monday. They asked the court to send the case back to the district court, with instructions to dismiss the case.
“In short, both the appeal and the case as a whole have been rendered moot,” wrote lawyers for the plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. “(We) have no basis on which to continue litigating the case.”
The law bans the procedure as early as six weeks after the person’s last menstrual period — before many even know they’re pregnant — or when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
The law, one of many anti-abortion laws signed by Gov. Bill Lee, was designed to withstand lawsuits even before the court overturned the precedent of Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a decision which weakened but reaffirmed Roe. It was written so that if the six-week ban had been ruled unconstitutional under Roe, an eight-week ban would take effect, and so on in increasing increments.
The law is strict, but not as strict as the “trigger law” Lee signed in 2019. That law bans all abortions except those where the life of the pregnant woman is in immediate danger. There are no exceptions for rape, incest or mental illness.
Slatery’s office clarified in a Tuesday press release that the trigger law takes effect 30 days after the judgment by the Supreme Court — not the ruling issued Friday. It expects the judgment no later than mid-July.
“Thus, around mid-August, Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act will prohibit the abortion of unborn children after fertilization,” the press release states.
The doctors performing the procedure are subject to prosecution for felonies, while the people seeking abortions are not criminally liable. At a press conference Friday, Slatery declined to say how prosecutors should treat those who self-administer abortions.
Lee thanked Slatery for his “tireless efforts” in a statement, saying the decision “mark(s) another significant protection for unborn children in our state.”
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Roe v. Wade Tennessee abortion lawIan Round
Ian Round is The Daily Memphian’s state government reporter based in Nashville. He came to Tennessee from Maryland, where he reported on local politics for Baltimore Brew. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland in December 2019.
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