NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A three-judge panel on Thursday ruled that Tennessee doctors who provide emergency abortions to protect the life of the mother cannot have their medical licenses revoked or face other disciplinary actions while a lawsuit challenging the state’s sweeping abortion ban continues.
The ruling also outlined specific pregnancy-related conditions that would now qualify as “medical necessity exceptions” under the ban, which currently does not include exceptions for fetal anomalies or for victims of rape or incest.
“This lack of clarity is evidenced by the confusion and lack of consensus within the Tennessee medical community on the circumstances requiring necessary health– and life-saving abortion care,” the ruling stated. “The evidence presented underscores how serious, difficult, and complex these issues are and raises significant questions as to whether the medical necessity exception is sufficiently narrow to serve a compelling state interest.”
The ruling is a win for reproductive rights advocates who have argued that the Volunteer State’s abortion ban, which has been in effect since 2022, is too vague and unfairly puts doctors at a high legal risk of violating the statute.
However, the judges also said that because they are a chancery court, they do not have the jurisdiction to block the criminal statute inside the ban — where violators face felony charges carrying a prison sentence as high as 15 years.
This means that while doctors will not face disciplinary actions from the Attorney General’s office and the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, they could still risk criminal charges under Thursday’s ruling.
The lawsuit was initially filed last year by a group of women and doctors asking the judges to clarify the circumstances in which patients can legally receive an abortion. Specifically, they requested the court to include fatal diagnoses.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office, which is defending the state in the case, did not immediately return an emailed request for comment on Thursday.
The legal challenge in Tennessee is part of a handful of lawsuits filed across the U.S. in Republican-dominant states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.
