A federal judge has issued a temporary block on Tennessee’s law that prohibits adults from assisting minors in obtaining abortions without parental consent.
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger’s ruling on Friday stated that the state cannot criminalize the free communication of legal abortion options, even in a state that has banned abortion with some exceptions.
The law will be put on hold as the case progresses through the court system.
“The Tennessee General Assembly seems to have decided that the best interests of the pregnant child are not considered important when it comes to ‘abortion trafficking,'” Trauger wrote.
TENNESSEE SUED OVER LAW BANNING ADULTS FROM HELPING MINORS GET ABORTIONS WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT
A pro-abortion access demonstrator holds a sign during a rally, May 14, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP)
At the start of this year, lawmakers in Tennessee passed a law that makes it a crime for an adult to assist a pregnant minor in the state to get an abortion without parental consent. Conviction could result in a Class A misdemeanor charge, which carries a possible jail sentence of up to one year.
The law does not offer exceptions for minors who may have been sexually assaulted by their parents, nor does it allow civil action against a biological father if he raped his daughter resulting in pregnancy.
The Tennessee law, effective from July 1, is similar to Idaho’s law on “abortion trafficking,” which was recently blocked by a federal judge pending further court proceedings.
