Does Tennessee already have a law banning partial-birth abortion?
No. The Tennessee law was modeled after a federal law that was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, so our law would not be constitutionally enforceable. • But if the U. S. Supreme Court has now upheld a ban that has different language, why can’t Tennessee use this new, approved language to ban partial-birth abortion? Tennessee’s Attorney General, who would have to defend a court challenge to that law, opined that even the new language would be “constitutionally suspect” under Tennessee’s constitution, meaning it would most likely be unconstitutional. • Isn’t the federal ban on partial-birth abortion sufficient to prevent any partial-birth abortions in Tennessee? Why do we need to pass a “state” ban? No. The federal ban, by its own terms, only applies when there is a link between the abortion and interstate commerce. Not all partial-birth abortions performed in Tennessee would have this connection. For instance if a Tennessee doctor performed a partial-birth abort
