News

August 13, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Thanks to a federal judge, the state of Tennessee will now be allowed to enforce a bevy of abortion regulations signed into law this past May – just not against two abortion centers currently violating them.

Two abortion facilities, the Women's Center in Nashville and the Bristol Regional Women's Center in East Tennessee, had filed suit against the state, claiming that they would be unable to comply with the new laws by the July 1 enforcement date.  U.S. district judge and Barack Obama appointee Kevin Sharp found merit in the abortionists' case and issued a temporary restraining order to keep them in business.

Among the Tennessee laws passed, the particular points of contention for the abortionists were a requirement that certain abortion facilities be licensed as surgical centers, as well as some new building and safety standards (the likes of which could have saved Karnamaya Mongar, an adult murder victim of Kermit Gosnell).  Also in dispute was a 2012 law mandating that abortionists have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

The state also enacted a mandatory 48-hour waiting period before a mother can undergo a requested abortion.

On Monday, Sharp lifted his restraining order, reportedly because the abortion facility plaintiffs are now in the process of getting licensed.  However, the judge's action is contingent on local district attorneys declining to prosecute the abortion facilities while they remain noncompliant.

In lifting the restraining order, Sharp expressed concern for the welfare of the abortionists, demanding a promise that the district attorneys with jurisdiction will not press charges against the abortionists seeking licensure from the state.  He has threatened to hold an emergency hearing on Thursday without such assurances, at which point he may reinstate the order.

Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!

A lawyer with the Tennessee attorney general's office stated that “there is no indication either of the district attorneys are intending to prosecute” the abortionists, but Sharp requires written statements from the DAs themselves.  As of Wednesday evening, he had yet to receive them.

Tennessee residents have had a strong say in the abortion laws in their state.  Last November, voters amended Tennessee's constitution to invalidate a 2000 state Supreme Court decision declaring several pro-life regulations, among which was a 48-hour waiting period, unconstitutional.

As of November 2014, Tennessee's constitution reads in part: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.”