A federal judge has permanently blocked part of the law in Tennessee that makes it a felony to transport a minor for an illegal abortion without gaining parental consent.
U.S. Circuit Judge Julia Gibbons ruled that the specific part of the law referring to “recruitment” was unconstitutional and cannot be enforced as it restricts protected speech.
Last June, State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville-District 51) filed the lawsuit along with co-plaintiff Rachel Welty, a Nashville family law attorney claiming that the wording in the law that was set to go into effect last July was “unconstitutionally vague” and violated First Amendment rights by criminalizing certain speech.
The lawsuit listed 11 Middle Tennessee district attorneys as defendants, saying that they failed to respond to Welty’s requests for an explanation of exactly what would become illegal under the new law.
