Sixth Cir. Upholds Block on Tennessee Age, Reason Abortion Bans

Tennessee laws criminalizing abortions performed at previability gestational ages or solely because of the fetus’ race, sex, or prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome won’t take effect before there is a decision on their constitutionality, a split Sixth Circuit said Friday.

The state’s “heartbeat” law operates in a cascading fashion. It prohibits abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected at about six weeks’ gestation and—if that section is found invalid—at successive gestational ages ranging from 8 to 24 weeks, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit explained in an opinion by Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey.

It would effectively completely ...