Tennessee abortion

Tennessee’s abortion ban is facing another legal challenge, and it hinges on the law’s ambiguity around medical exceptions.

Advocates say it won’t help the state’s maternal mortality rate.

Tennessee State House members voted 83 to 11 to approve a measure adding narrow exemptions to the state’s abortion ban.

A bill to allow very specific exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion ban passed a key House committee Wednesday.

Tennessee Right to Life backs bill to make “affirmative defense” for physicians an exception.

A new abortion ban took effect this week in Tennessee. Unlike some other state bans, it doesn’t include any exceptions for rape and incest. WPLN News wanted to find out if lawmakers were open to changes, so they asked. But only Democrats were willing to respond.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its judgement on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Tuesday, the decision overturning Roe v. Wade. That starts the clock on Tennessee’s so-called trigger law.

The number of abortions carried out in Tennessee has been dropping for the last decade as Republicans have imposed more restrictions. At this point, Black women account for roughly half of all the state’s abortions, driving equity concerns as an all-out ban looms.

For many people in rural parts of the Ohio Valley, wading through a sea of anti-abortion protesters is a jarring experience that can only take place after hours of driving, sometimes across state lines.

Tennessee lawmakers are back in Nashville for the 2022 legislative session, which kicks off Tuesday. WPLN’s Political Reporter Blaise Gainey spoke with House Speaker Cameron Sexton about what to expect.