CV NEWS FEED // A Tennessee senator and a Nashville attorney are suing Tennessee over the recent abortion trafficking law, which criminalizes adults who help obtain abortions for minors without their parents’ permission.
According to the Associated Press, the law would punish any adult who “intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports” a minor to get an abortion without their parents’ consent. The law would go into effect on July 1, and Tennessee would be the second state after Idaho to enact such a law. Idaho’s similar statute has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge since November 2023.
Tennessee Rep. Aftyn Behn and Nashville attorney Rachel Welty sued, saying that the law violates the First Amendment and is “unconstitutionally vague” because it does not define what “recruits” means.
Republican bill sponsor Rep. Jason Zachary cited Behn’s social media account as an example of recruitment during the House’s debate about the legislation.
“Unfortunately, there’s even a member of this body that recently tweeted out, ‘I welcome the opportunity to take a young person out of state who wants to have an abortion, even if it lands me in jail.’ That is what recruitment looks like,” Zachary said.
Tennessee already bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, except in the cases of ectopic or molar pregnancies or to save the life of a mother, but supporters of the bill think it is a necessary measure to defend parental rights.
Like Idaho’s abortion trafficking law, which CatholicVote reported on in 2023, the law would help girls who are victims of sex trafficking since “abortion has been used to cover up abuse and trafficking of young girls,” said CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky. By ensuring that abortions could not occur without parental consent, the law would expose abuse and trafficking of minors.
