CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2020 / 10:00 am
A federal appeals court on Friday allowed a Tennessee ban on some abortions to go into effect.
A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a part of the state's abortion law can go into effect, a "reason ban" that bars discrimination abortions.
Tennessee in July enacted a law with several restrictions on abortion, including a "heartbeat ban" on abortions conducted as early as six weeks into pregnancy, and bans on abortions at other stages in pregnancy should the "heartbeat" ban be struck down by a court.
The law also banned doctors from performing abortions if they knew the mother was seeking the abortion "because of" the sex, race, or Down syndrome diagnosis of her baby-a "reason ban," in Section 217 of the law.