(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect [1] ['Anita Wadhwani', 'Dulce Torres Guzman', 'More From Author', '- August'] Date: 2022-08-25 Tennessee on Thursday became the latest state in the nation to ban abortion, implementing a strict new law with no exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal anomalies while subjecting doctors who choose to perform lifesaving abortions to the risk of criminal prosecution. The state’s Human Life Protection Act is among the toughest abortion bans in the nation and one of three so-called “trigger bans” to take effect on the same day. Texas and Idaho trigger bans also go into effect Thursday. Altogether, at least a dozen states have implemented some form of abortion ban since the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended Constitutional protections for abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Abortion foes in Tennessee celebrated Wednesday. Tennessee Right to Life, the powerful lobbying group that served as the architect of the ban, tweeted Wednesday that they have waited nearly 50 years for the day to arrive. “The end of abortion-on-demand in our state is a badge of honor for Tennessee,” State Rep. Susan Lynn, a Republican from Mt. Juliet and one of the law’s chief sponsors, told WGNS radio. But advocates for abortion rights voiced sorrow — and anger. “This trigger law is depraved and heartless, and it is anything but Christian,” Ashley Coffield, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi told reporters Wednesday. “And Gov. (Bill) Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly have created a climate of fear. They’ve abandoned us. And they have left us with a totally manufactured crisis of their own making.” Most abortions in Tennessee have already come to a halt. Planned Parenthood clinics in Nashville and Memphis ended abortion services within days of the Supreme Court decision, when a 6-week abortion law took effect almost immediately. Clinics that continued to provide abortions during the narrow 6-week window, before many women realize they are pregnant, saw far fewer patients. CHOICES, a clinic in Memphis, reported seeing one-tenth the number of usual abortion patients after the 6-week ban took effect. CHOICES and two other clinics that have continued to provide abortions since the Supreme Court decision announced they would end all abortion services Wednesday. “Patients were confused and in total shock about what had happened,” Coffield said. “They really didn’t see this coming. They believed that providers like Planned Parenthood would fight back, and there would be a path for us to protect this right. And, unfortunately, we had to explain to our patients that we didn’t have one.” Enacted three years ago in anticipation of an eventual Supreme Court ruling ending abortion rights, the trigger law’s language has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks, with questions about whether a ban — and criminal penalties — apply to situations that vary from certain IUD’s used as emergency contraception to how gravely ill a pregnant patient must be for a physician to be able to justify an abortion. [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/08/25/amid-uncertainty-and-anger-tennessees-abortion-ban-takes-effect/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/