After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Illegal

Tennessee

Tennessee is enforcing its trigger ban, which criminalizes abortion.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 20-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 6-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban
  • Reason Ban
  • Telemedicine Ban
  • Trigger Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Admitting Privilege Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Restrictions

On August 25, 2022, Tennessee began enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy with limited medical emergency exceptions,1 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.2 However, in October 2024, a Davidson County Trial Court temporarily enjoined disciplinary actions against physicians who provide abortion care within the scope of the trigger ban’s Medical Necessity Exception.3

Tennessee has not repealed other laws related to abortion. Tennessee law retains gestational bans at six-weeks,4 twenty weeks LMP, and after viability.5  It also prohibits D&X procedures6 and abortions sought for reasons of sex, race, or Down syndrome, a provision that a Sixth Circuit panel allowed to go into effect.7 Tennessee law continues to include requirements that pregnant people must undergo a mandatory forty-eight-hour waiting period, a requirement that was reinstated by the Sixth Circuit8; biased counseling; an ultrasound9; and prohibitions on public funding10, and private insurance coverage.11 The state prohibits local governments from expending funds to assist someone in accessing abortion, specifically targeting funding for out-of-state travel.12 It continues to require that a parent, legal guardian,13 or judge14 consent to a minor’s abortion. In 2024, Tennessee enacted a law that criminalizes assistance to a minor who leaves the state to access abortion care15, which is currently enjoined.16

In 2020, Tennessee exploited the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to ban abortion care, issuing an executive order17 that purported to suspend procedures deemed “elective and non-urgent” by the state. This order contradicted major medical groups in the United States and around the world, which agree that abortion is essential and time sensitive health care.18 The Middle District of Tennessee enjoined the order, which was upheld by the Sixth Circuit, but it was later vacated by the Supreme Court of the United States and remanded to be dismissed as moot now that the state’s executive order has expired.19

Tennessee retains targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws related to facilities and admitting privileges,20 which are both permanently enjoined,21 and reporting.22 Tennessee law continues to restrict the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians and explicitly prohibits physician assistants from providing medication abortion.23 Tennessee also restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.24 Providers who violate Tennessee’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.25

State Protections

Tennessee law does not include express constitutional protections for abortion. To the contrary, Tennessee’s constitution was amended in 2014 to preclude protections for abortion rights.26

Post-Roe Prohibitions

In 2019, Tennessee enacted a trigger ban. 27

Tennessee repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1973.28

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Tennessee is enforcing its trigger ban, which criminalizes abortion.

  1. Tenn. Code Ann. u00a7 39-15-213 (stating that the ban will take effect thirty days after u201cthe issuance of the judgment…of the United States Supreme Courtu201d which took place on July 28, 2022); H.B. 883, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Tenn. 2023). See also Tenn. Code Ann. u00a763-6-1101 et seq. ↩︎
  2. Dobbs v. Jackson Womenu2019s Health Org., 597 U.S (June 24, 2022), revu2019d Dobbs v. Jackson Womenu2019s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265, 274 (5th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  3. Blackmon v. Tennessee, No. 23-1196-IV(I) (Tenn. Ch. Oct. 14, 2024). ↩︎
  4. Tenn. Code Ann. u00a7u00a7 39-15-216; Memphis Ctr. for Reprod. Health v. Slatery, No. 20-5969 (6th Cir. Jun. 28, 2022) (order lifting preliminary injunction). ↩︎
  5. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 39-15-212, 39-15-211(b)(1)u2013(2). ↩︎
  6. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7 39-15-209. ↩︎
  7. Id. u00a7 39-15-217; Memphis Ctr. for Reprod. Health, 2020 WL 4274198 at *16-*18; Stay Order at 4-5, Memphis Ctr. for Reprod. Health v. Slatery, No. 20-5969 (6th Cir. Nov. 20, 2020), ECF No. 33-2. ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a7 39-15-202(d)(1); Adams & Boyle, P.C. v. Slatery, 494 F. Supp. 3d 488, 570 (M.D. Tenn. 2020) (permanently enjoining the waiting period); Bristol Reg’l Women’s Ctr. v. Slatery, 994 F.3d 774 (6th Cir. 2021) (mem) (granting Tennessee’s request for administrative stay and reinstating waiting period). ↩︎
  9. Id. u00a7u00a7 39-15-202(b), 39-15-213(b)(3). ↩︎
  10. Id. u00a7 9-4-5116. ↩︎
  11. Id. u00a7 56-26-134. ↩︎
  12. S.B. 600, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Tenn. 2023). ↩︎
  13. Id. u00a7 37-10-303. ↩︎
  14. Id. u00a7u00a7 37-10-303(b),304. ↩︎
  15. S.B. 1971, 2024 Leg. Reg. Sess. (Tenn 2024). ↩︎
  16. Welty v. Dunaway, No. 3:24-CV-00768 (M.D. Tenn. Sept. 20, 2024) (granting motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction). ↩︎
  17. Governor Lee, Executive Order 25 (Apr. 8, 2020). ↩︎
  18. See Joint Statement on Abortion Access During the COVID-19 Outbreak, Am. Coll. Obstetrics & Gynecology (Mar. 18, 2020); Disaster Risk Management for Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, World Health Org. (May 2011); Safe Abortion Care in the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Sexual and Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings, Inter-Agency Working Grp. (Dec. 19, 2019). ↩︎
  19. Adams & Boyle, P.C. v. Slatery, No. 3:15-CV-00705, 2020 WL 1905147 (M.D. Tenn. Apr. 17, 2020), aff’d by 956 F.3d 913, 922 (6th Cir. 2020), vacated by 141 S. Ct. 1262 (2021) (mem). ↩︎
  20. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 68-11-201(3), 39-15-202(j); Bristol Regu2019l Womenu2019s Ctr. v. Slatery, 7 F.4th 478, 2021 WL 3412741 (6th Cir. 2021). ↩︎
  21. Adams & Boyle v. Slatery, No. 3:15-CV-00705 (M.D. Tenn. Apr. 13, 2017) (granting partial judgment on consent of parties). ↩︎
  22. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 39-15-203, 68-3-505. ↩︎
  23. Id. u00a7 39-15-201(c)(1)-(2), TENN. COMP. R. & REGS. 1130-01-.21(3); Id. u00a7 39-15-201(c)(1)-(2), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1130-01-.21(3); Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act., Pub. L. No. 1001, 2022 (codified at Tenn. Code Ann. u00a763-6-1101 et seq.). ↩︎
  24. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7 63-6-241. ↩︎
  25. See TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7 39-15-202,u00a0id. u00a7 39-15-213. ↩︎
  26. TENN. CONST. art. I, u00a7 36 (superseding Planned Parenthood of Middle Tenn. v. Sundquist, 38 S.W.3d 1, 4 (Tenn. 2000) (holding u201ca woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy is a vital part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution” and that u201cthe right is inherent in the concept of ordered liberty embodied in our constitution and is therefore fundamentalu201d)). ↩︎
  27. TENN. CODE ANN. u00a7 39-15-213. See also Tenn. Code Ann.u00a0u00a763-6-1101u00a0et seq. ↩︎
  28. Id. u00a7u00a7 39-301, 39-302 (1956), repealed by 1973 Tenn. Pub. Acts 901 et seq., ch. 235, u00a7u00a7 1, 3. ↩︎