Federal court upholds block on TN law making it a crime to aid minors seeking out-of-state abortions

A Tennessee law preventing adults from giving information to minors about legal out-of-state abortions will remain blocked, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled Thursday.

​A three-judge panel agreed with a federal district judge that barring adults from giving out information about abortions violates the First Amendment.

​Senior United States Judge Jane Stranch said in her ruling the Tennessee law had “no compelling interest in shielding its citizens from information about activities outside its borders.”

​Stranch added in the ruling, the state “criminalizes speech that encourages a minor to get an abortion yet is silent on speech encouraging a minor to carry a pregnancy to term with or without parental involvement.”

​Tennessee lawmakers passed the law in 2024, two years after the state’s near-total abortion ban went into effect following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

​State. Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, and attorney Rachel Welty filed a lawsuit against the law shortly after its passage, and a federal district judge prevented it from taking effect.

​Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti then appealed the ruling.

​The blocked law made it a misdemeanor for any adult who “recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant un-emancipated minor” to obtain an abortion, including drug-induced abortion, without consent from the minor’s legal guardian.

​The law came in response to abortion advocates providing information and resources to those wanting the procedure in states where it remains legal.

​The ruling