NASHVILLE – The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear a case that resulted in blocking Tennessee’s “fetal heartbeat” law, which seeks to criminalize abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected – as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Tennessee’s law also provides criminal penalties if an abortion is performed based on the fetus’ race or sex or if the fetus has been diagnosed with Down syndrome.
A majority of the 16-judge panel agreed to rehear the case even as the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority earlier in the day signaled in a Mississippi abortion case that they were open to allowing states to ban the procedure much earlier in pregnancy and possibly overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established seeking an abortion as a right in most instances in the first trimester. The Mississippi law bans abortions at 15 weeks.
Tennessee’s law has a tiered approach to the ban, with the most stringent restriction taking place at six weeks. If that’s struck down, it provides other options increasing the time, the goal being to put in place the most restrictive abortion law the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately accepts.
In September, a 6th Circuit three-judge panel blocked the Tennessee provisions, upholding an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge William Cambell Jr., who said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in challenging the law, writing that “when a law threatens criminal sanctions, such vague provisions and potential varied interpretations cannot stand.”