Family Action Council of Tennessee: Partial-Birth Abortion

Why Is Partial-Birth Abortion Legal in Tennessee?

In 2000, in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Sundquist, our state Supreme Court “found” a right to abortion in our state Constitution. As a consequence of this decision, our state’s informed consent law was struck down as well as our law that required women to wait 48 hours from the time they were informed to the time they had the abortion. In addition, the Court struck down the requirement that riskier third-term abortions be performed in a hospital for the safety to women.

As a result, Roe v. Wade could be reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow yet abortion would still be a right in Tennessee.

But because of the strong language of our state Supreme Court, our state’s Attorney General recently issued an official opinion saying that a ban on partial-birth abortion would be “constitutionally suspect.” Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has made it very clear that partial birth can be banned under the U.S. Constitution, the same cannot be said of Tennessee’s constitution. We need Senate Joint Resolution 127 to pass so we can make it clear that our state constitution does not protect partial-birth abortion and prevent our legislature from making it illegal.