NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee’s attorney general’s office on Monday said it’s still unknown when the state’s anti-abortion “trigger ban” will go into effect, but some state lawmakers are raising alarm that the ban has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
Tennessee has been limiting abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy – when most women don’t know they’re pregnant – ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case in June.
However, the state also has another abortion ban designed to restrict abortion almost entirely. But that law can’t be enacted until the Supreme Court enters a judgment on the Roe ruling, which is expected soon. Doing so will start the clock on Tennessee’s trigger law and allow it to be implemented within 30 days. Idaho and Texas have similar timelines, while a handful of other states’ trigger laws have been delayed due to legal challenges.
Republican Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s office initially said the state could begin enforcing the trigger law in mid-August, but nearly a month after making that estimate, a spokesperson said they were “not sure” if that timeline was still in place.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers say they plan on introducing several bills during the next legislative session to expand the list of exemptions under the trigger law, as well as adding patient-doctor privacy protections for telehealth care.