Federal Court Upholds Tennessee's Ban on Discriminatory Abortions

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee

Last Friday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tennessee can legally ban the discriminatory practice of aborting children solely because they were diagnosed with Down Syndrome or the parents disliked the child's race or sex.

The court ruled 2-1 that the bans on discriminatory abortions could take effect while the court hears arguments regarding other aspects of Tennessee's pro-life legislation, which was signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in July.

The ruling strikes a devastating blow against the legal challenge issued by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, but there will still be arguments about the heartbeat aspect of the law.

The bill requires doctors to perform an ultrasound on a woman before she can have an abortion. If the ultrasound detects a heartbeat, it would be illegal to abort that child. This portion of the law is still unenforceable due to an injunction placed against it.

After the federal court's ruling allowing part of the law to go into effect, abortion businesses applied for a temporary restraining order to block its enforcement.

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