On Thursday, a three-judge panel ruled that doctors in Tennessee who provide “emergency abortions” cannot face repercussions for doing so.
According to the Associated Press, the ruling also outlined specific pregnancy-related conditions that would now qualify as “medical necessity exceptions” under the state's near-total abortion ban (via AP):
“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.
Reportedly, the state law says 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.”
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