US appeals court to rehear Tennessee abortion ban argument

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court concluded historic arguments over abortion, a federal appeals court signaled it might be willing to allow yet another restrictive ban to go into effect.

Earlier this year, a three-judge panel on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted banning abortion in Tennessee once cardiac activity is detected in an embryo — at around six weeks. But late Wednesday, the appeals court said it would vacate that ruling and instead schedule a rehearing before the full court.

While the state law will remain on pause because of a lower court ruling, the move marked yet another rapid turn in the ongoing battle over abortion access currently being fought inside the country's judicial system.

In 2020, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed one of the nation's strictest anti-abortion bills at the time. The law not only banned abortion as early as six weeks — before many people know they're pregnant — but also outlawed abortions due to a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, or because of the race or gender of the fetus.

Reproductive rights groups representing clinics in Tennessee quickly sued the state and U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell blocked the law almost immediately after Lee gave the bill his signature.

While the 6th Circuit eventually ruled that the so-called reasons ban could go into effect in late 2020, the federal panel later reversed course and blocked that provision in September.

At the time, Judge Amul R. Thaper dissented, but also broadly addressed abortion by writing that “the courts should return this choice to the American people — where it belongs."

“The state legislatures can do what we can’t: listen to the community, create fact-specific rules with appropriate exceptions, gather more...