A three-judge panel has ruled that Tennessee cannot discipline doctors who provide emergency abortions to protect the life of the mother while a lawsuit challenging the state’s sweeping abortion ban continues.

A three-judge panel on Thursday ruled that Tennessee doctors who provide emergency abortions to protect the life of the mother cannot have their medical licenses revoked or face other disciplinary actions while a lawsuit challenging the state’s sweeping abortion ban continues.

The ruling also outlined specific pregnancy-related conditions that would now qualify as “medical necessity exceptions” under the ban, which currently does not include exceptions for fetal anomalies or for victims of rape or incest.

“This lack of clarity is evidenced by the confusion and lack of consensus within the Tennessee medical community on the circumstances requiring necessary health- and life-saving abortion care,” the ruling stated. “The evidence presented underscores how serious, difficult, and complex these issues are and raises significant questions as to whether the medical necessity exception is sufficiently narrow to serve a compelling state interest.”

  • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
    29·
    1 month ago

    Having grown up in Tennessee, they absolutely will be punished.

    They will be shunned by society, they will be attacked privately for even being rumored to have assisted in an abortion.

    Pastors, politicians, will spread stories that a doctor participated in an abortion, and that will lead to ‘vigilante justice’.

    On the plus side, there will be some minority of doctors who give appropriate medical care anyway, no matter the repercussions.

    • NABDad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      1 month ago

      They will also be punished because of they ever intervene to protect the life of the mother, they’ll find themselves in court trying to prove that the mother’s life was in danger.

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        1 month ago

        Yeah, but the state board SHOULD protect them, at least until the inbred good ol boys pass more laws saying a fetus is a 100% viable legal human at conception and until they’re born there’s no way they could ever die because God would never let a baby die and if you disagree it’s because you’re a satan worshipping baby murderer and this is intent.

        Their politicians are… They’re evil, but at the same time they don’t understand how they could ever be wrong about anything, so the logic goes down all kinds of narcissistic corridors.

          • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            Absolutely not.

            But they will testify as experts that it was necessary lifesaving care.

            They’ll be prosecuted, but they’ll probably get off, though again, it is the south.

    • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 month ago

      Why would this be any different than how it was before Roe was overturned? They were doing the same thing then as what they’re now allowed to do again because of this current ruling.

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 month ago

        Because it was a lost culture war issue then, now they’re the winners and everyone who disagrees with them is on the weak side.

        That’s like saying “why would black people do worse in the south once reconstruction was ended, they still had the amendments?”, which is true, but basically meaningless in reality, you’ve made it clear you can’t enforce anything.

        These people now know that if they do commit vigilantism, it will go through local and state courts, probably be upheld under some excuse that they were “protecting life”, and finally if it got to SCoTUS potentially pass because of Dobbs.

  • dgmib@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 month ago

    The problem with all “abortions are illegal except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk” laws is who gets to decide when the mother’s life is at sufficiently at risk?

    Any pregnancy is a risk to the mother’s life to some extent. The only person who should be making the decision of how much risk it too much is the mother after an informed and private discussion with her doctor.

    These stupid laws today make it so that even if it’s an emergency, any doctor performing an abortion is taking a risk that the state won’t agree it was an emergency (or perhaps that it wasn’t an emergency yet). That means that even in an emergency it gets left to the last minute where it’s high risk for everyone.

    The only way to actually be pro-life and make abortions safe when it’s medically required. Is to make abortion legal and left as a decision between a woman and her doctor.