Opinion ID: 2103784
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: development of the law regulating abortions

Text: Tennessee has regulated the practice of abortions by statute since at least 1883, when all abortions were illegal except to preserve the life of the pregnant woman. 1883 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 140 (codified as Tenn.Code § 5371 and 5372 (1884)). This statute was left largely unchanged until after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade . In Roe , the United States Supreme Court recognized that a woman has a fundamental right to terminate her pregnancy and that this right is deserving of heightened scrutiny against state restrictions. 410 U.S. at 154-55, 93 S.Ct. at 727-28. The Court further recognized, however, that the State has legitimate interests in health, medical standards, and potential life. Id. at 162-63, 93 S.Ct. at 731. Accordingly, the Court established a trimester framework pursuant to which the State's interests in maternal health and potential life are balanced against the woman's interest in procreational autonomy. Id. at 163-64, 93 S.Ct. at 731-32. Concluding that the State's interest in maternal health becomes compelling after the first trimester and that the State's interest in potential life becomes compelling after the second trimester, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Texas criminal abortion statute which, like Tennessee's statute, banned all abortions except to protect the woman's life. Id. at 164, 93 S.Ct. at 732. After the Roe v. Wade decision, the General Assembly enacted Public Chapter 235, 1973 Tenn.Pub. Acts, ch. 235 (codified as Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-301 (Supp.1973)), which adopted the trimester framework set forth in Roe and placed restrictions upon the exercise of that right depending upon the point in the pregnancy during which the woman seeks an abortion, i.e., the first, second, or third trimester, and upon whether she is a resident of Tennessee. In later years, the legislature enacted additional regulations. In 1974, the General Assembly increased the punishment for statutory violations. 1974 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 471 (codified as Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-301 (1975)). Then, in 1978, the General Assembly provided for State custody of a fetus born alive during an abortion, 1978 Tenn.Pub. Acts, ch. 811, § 2 (codified as Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-307 (Supp.1978)), and enacted the physician-only, informed consent requirements and the waiting period requirement. 1978 Tenn.Pub. Acts, ch. 847 (codified as Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-302 (Supp.1978)). This latter provision required the attending physician to orally inform the woman of statutorily prescribed information, to be followed by a two-day waiting period, before the woman may return to the physician, sign a consent form, and obtain the abortion. Id. [4] The legislature recodified the abortion statutes in 1989 as a part of a general re-enactment of Tennessee's criminal code. See 1989 Tenn.Pub. Acts, ch. 591, § 1, Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 39-15-201 through 208 (Supp.1989); Planned Parenthood Ass'n v. McWherter, 817 S.W.2d 13, 16 (Tenn.1991).