In a controversial decision that was made moreso by the leak of one judge's opinion last month, the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the Constitutional right to abortion.
The decision, levied in 1973, stated that individual states could not ban abortions before fetal viability. At the time that was 28 weeks, but it has since been reduced to 23. The ruling came into question due the state of Mississippi enacting a law that determined the gestational age of unborn humans to be 15 weeks. Mississippi's sole abortion clinic sued, saying the law was unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. While initial rulings favored the clinic, the state continued to elevate the argument through the court system until it made to the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe and put decisions about abortion law into the hands of the states.
Reaction online has been largely mixed along party lines.
So what does this mean for Tennessee? Well, the larger picture is that each individual state government will be able to decide how to handle abortion laws in their state. As of right now, four states - Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have laws completely abolishing abortion. Unless those states change course, laws in those areas would revert to pre-1973 regulations on abortion. 15 states already had abortion protections in place - largely on the west coast and in the northeastern part of the country.
Tennessee falls in with most of the rest of the country as a state that could either soon ban nearly all abortions, or revive an unenforced ban predating Roe.
How are you feeling today with the Supreme Court's decision?