The year 2022 will become a generational marker for the issue of abortion. It was the year in which access vanished in Tennessee. The state now has arguably the strictest ban in the country. But it was not at all clear abortion would be outlawed at the beginning of the year.
Below is a timeline in WPLN stories of how Tennesseeans lost access to abortions.
1. During the 2022 legislative session, state lawmakers were still debating new restrictions. They passed a few new regulations around dispensing abortion medication. But they backed off another more far-reaching proposal that would have allowed citizens to sue those involved with an abortion. Senate leaders said it would complicate Tennessee’s own legal challenge making its way through the courts, banning abortions at 6-weeks of pregnancy. At the time, there was thinking that the most the U.S. Supreme Court might do in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is allow states to ban abortions after 18 weeks, which was the threshold in question for the Mississippi case.
Tennessee Senate leaders try to slam the brakes on Texas-style abortion ban advancing in the House
2. Once the Dobbs draft opinion leaked, upending the abortion protections in Roe v. Wade, it became clearer that Tennessee’s trigger law would likely result in a total ban here.
What would happen in Tennessee if the Supreme Court overturns abortion law?
3. We started hearing from more OB-GYNs, who were never consulted when Tennessee lawmakers passed the trigger ban in 2019, saying the law was going to complicate how they care for miscarriages. They told us they were surprised by how clueless lawmakers were about the law’s effect.
Tennessee OB-GYNs say state’s looming abortion ban threatens treatment for miscarriages
4. As soon as the Supreme Court released its opinion, Tennessee’s Attorney General asked a federal court to allow the state’s 6-week ban to take effect. There was no public warning that this step was coming, even though news outlets had asked the AG what the plan was. Federal courts allowed the 6-week ban to be enforced. And at that point, most abortions stopped since many people don’t know they’re pregnant that early.
5. Immediately, abortion access advocates begin discussing how to get an abortion out of state, primarily in Illinois, and the possibilities for acquiring abortion medication without a prescription.
6. The trigger ban took effect Aug. 25 after a 30-day period.
Two months after Roe v. Wade’s fall, Tennessee’s full abortion ban takes effect
7. Since the trigger ban was not debated in depth when it passed, the effects of the law started to become more widely realized through the summer. Doctors discovered just how much scrutiny they would face.
How doctors carry the greatest legal risk under Tennessee’s total abortion ban
8. With more lawyers looking at the trigger ban, it became obvious that the “affirmative defense” in Tennessee’s abortion law was not really an exception for the life of the mother, as described during legislative hearings. It put the burden of proof on doctors to show they weren’t breaking the law.
9. Some Tennesseans expected legal challenges to the abortion ban. To-date there have been none. This showed the consequences of an amendment added to the state constitution in 2014 that explicitly excludes abortion protections.
Legal challenges to Tennessee’s trigger abortion ban are unlikely. Here’s why.
10. Democrats have proposed adding a key exception to Tennessee’s law, but they would need to convince many Republicans to join them, and very few have even hinted they’d be open to adding exceptions. Those who have were coached by anti-abortion leaders to avoid the discussion.
Democratic lawmaker files bill to add rape and incest exceptions to Tennessee’s all-out abortion ban
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM