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."
The judges determined that the following medical conditions now fall under the state's abortion exemptions premature rupture of the amniotic sac that surrounds the fetus inevitable abortions fatal fetal diagnoses that result in severe preeclampsia or mirror syndrome associated with fetal hydrops and fatal fetal diagnoses leading to an infection that will result in uterine rupture or potential loss of fertility.
The abortion law initially only explicitly stated that ectopic or molar pregnancies qualify as exemptions, as well as doctors who use their "reasonable medical judgement" in order to "prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."
