Federal judge blocks Tennessee law that criminalizes advising minors how to obtain out-of-state abortions

Source: Law & Crime

Jul 19th, 2025, 3:30 pm


A federal court in Tennessee on Friday barred state officials from enforcing a law that criminalizes advising minors of their right to travel to another state to obtain a legal abortion.

In June 2024, Rachel Welty, an abortion advocate, along with a state representative who opposed the law, filed an 82-page lawsuit against several of the Volunteer State's elected district attorneys general over their "criminal enforcement authority" to enforce and "affirmative statutory obligation" to defend the disputed anti-abortion law.

The lawsuit was premised on the claim that one section of the law, 39-15-213, criminalizes "both pure speech about legal abortion care and helping young people access legal abortion care." In September 2024, the court issued a preliminary injunction while the case moved forward; the lawsuit itself asked for a permanent injunction.

Now, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Julia S. Gibbons – originally a Ronald Reagan appointee later elevated by George W. Bush – who oversaw the case siting by designation, has granted that requested relief in a 32-page memorandum opinion and order.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/impermissible-viewpoint-discrimination-federal-judge-blocks-tennessee-law-that-criminalizes-advising-minors-how-to-obtain-out-of-state-abortions/