Doctors Free to Perform Emergency Abortions in Tennessee: Judges

File photo of a judge's gavel. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Doctors who perform emergency abortions in Tennessee are shielded from losing their medical licenses or suffering other discipline, a panel of three judges ruled on Oct. 17.

Tennessee’s 2022 abortion ban enables criminal charges against doctors who perform abortions, with exceptions for certain scenarios such as when physicians determine abortions are required to “prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

Seven women sued the state, saying they could not obtain “medically necessary abortions” because the ban contained vague language.

The judges assigned to the case agreed. In the new ruling, they wrote that the law is likely unconstitutionally vague, with the lack of clarity “evidenced by the confusion and lack of consensus within the Tennessee medical community on the circumstances requiring necessary health- and life-saving abortion care,” they said.

The Chancery Court judges entered a temporary injunction that blocks Tennessee’s medical board and the state’s attorney general from disciplining doctors who perform emergency abortions.

However, the judges said they could not grant the request to enjoin enforcement of the part of the statute that lets prosecutors bring criminal charges against doctors who perform abortions that do not meet the exceptions in the law because they do not have the jurisdiction.

The law opens up doctors who perform abortions that don’t fit under the exceptions to a Class C felony. In Tennessee, Class C felonies can bring up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, Chancellor Kasey Culbreath, and Judge Sandra Donaghy listed specific conditions that meet the exceptions outlined in the law, including previable perterm premature rupture of membranes, and “inevitable abortion,” or dilation of the cervix prior to viability of the pregnancy.

The plaintiffs in the case are being represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights.

“The Court agreed with us that the medical exception in the ban is not clear and has not been working. This ruling is a win for pregnant patients in Tennessee and is vindication for the brave women in this case, who were denied or delayed in getting medically necessary abortion,” Linda Goldstein, senior counsel at the center, said in a statement.

“I’m thrilled that the court not only heard us, but truly listened. While it is bittersweet for me personally, the decision we received is sure to save so many others the grief that my fellow plaintiffs and I were forced to endure,” said Nicole Blackmon, one of the plaintiffs.

Blackmon was ordered dropped from the case because she has, according to a separate order, “foregone the ability to become pregnant again.”

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti told news outlets in a statement that the state has said that the law “allows pregnant women to receive all necessary care to address serious health risks.”

“The court’s limited injunction order mirrors that understanding. We all agree that doctors should save lives and protect their patients,” he said.