Suit was filed in a Tennessee federal district court this week challenging a recently enacted Tennessee abortion law (Tenn. Code Sec. 39-15-218, effective Oct. 1, 2020) that requires doctors to tell their patients that it may be possible to reverse the effects of the first drug given to induce a medical abortion if the woman acts quickly. The complaint (full text) in Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi v. Slatery, (MD TN, filed 8/31/2020) alleges in part:
By forcing Plaintiffs to communicate a government-ordered message with which they and the overwhelming consensus of the medical profession disagree, and to present abortion patients with untruthful, misleading, and irrelevant information, the Act violates the First Amendment right of Plaintiffs and their staff and physicians against compelled speech, as well as their patients’ privacy rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Act likewise violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection, singling out abortion providers and patients for adverse treatment not imposed on any other medical providers or patients in the State.
Courthouse News Service reports on the lawsuit. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
