Federal judge blocks Tennessee law making it crime to aid minors seeking out-of-state abortions

The Fred D. Thompson Federal Courthouse in Nashville (Photo: John Partipilo)

A Tennessee law that bars adults from giving information to minors about legal, out-of-state abortions violates the First Amendment and cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Senior United States Circuit Judge Julia Gibbons called the 2024 law “impermissible viewpoint discrimination,” writing that it criminalizes only one side of the speech about abortion.

The Tennessee law “prohibits speech encouraging lawful abortion while allowing speech discouraging lawful abortion,” wrote Gibbons, who sits on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals but was appointed to preside over the case in Nashville after several other federal judges recused themselves from the case.

But, the ultimate fate of the law remains unsettled. 

In November, Tennessee’s Attorney General appealed a ruling that temporarily stopped the law from taking effect. 

That appeal remains pending with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, awaiting a decision. 

The law was passed with the backing of GOP lawmakers and Gov. Bill Lee in 2024, nearly two years after the state’s near-total abortion ban took effect. Since the ban, abortion rights advocates inside and out of Tennessee have provided information and funding to individuals seeking abortion in states where the procedure remains legal.

The lawsuit was brought by state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat and social worker, who has publicly advocated for abortion rights, and Rachel Welty, a Nashville attorney who describes herself as an “advocate for safe and healthy access to abortion care.” They are represented in the case by Nashville attorneys Daniel Horwitz, Melissa Dix and Sarah Martin.