What is the current abortion law in Tennessee?
Although Tennessee has historically been on the forefront in the passage of protective, pro-life legislation, the TN Supreme Court stripped away many of these protections with its finding of a fundamental right to abortion in our state Constitution on September 15, 2000. As a result the abortion policy in Tennessee is basically ‘abortion on demand’ until viability. The protective laws remaining to be enforced include a one parent consent requirement for minors seeking abortions and a provision in the state budget which prohibits the use of TennCare dollars for abortion except in the cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. (The language does not address the possible use of state staff or facilities for abortion, or the subsidy of state employee health plans which include abortion.) Neither parental consent nor abortion funding were challenged in Planned Parenthood v. Sundquist. Other protective laws including informed consent, hospitalization requirements for second
