NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A federal court on Tuesday allowed Tennessee’s ban on abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy to take effect, citing the Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case.
The action by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes before Tennessee’s other abortion ban, known as the so-called trigger ban, is set to restrict abortion almost entirely in less than a month. Both measures would make performing an abortion a felony and subject doctors to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Republican state Attorney General Herbert Slatery filed an emergency motion on Friday to allow the state to begin implementing the six-week ban. GOP supermajorities in the Legislature passed the law in 2020 with Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s backing, and it was almost immediately blocked in federal court.
Experts have noted that at six weeks, most women don’t know they’re pregnant.
“There are a lot of things that I am very passionate about and take very personally in this job that I have, but … this was the most important thing that I could do as governor,” Lee said while speaking virtually with anti-abortion religious leaders just hours after the Supreme Court announced its momentous ruling Friday.