Case: Blackmon v. State of Tennessee

On September 11, 2023, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed this lawsuit in the Chancery Court for the Twentieth Judicial District in Tennessee (a state trial court) — against the State of Tennessee and the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners — on behalf of a group of private plaintiffs: women in Tennessee who were denied medically necessary abortion care and physicians who have been prevented from offering their patients life-saving treatment. The plaintiffs challenged the application of Tennessee’s criminal, total abortion ban to pregnant patients with emergent medical conditions, alleging that the abortion ban's Medical Condition Exception was too narrow and unclear for physicians to provide life-saving care without fear of criminal liability. Tennessee's criminal abortion ban first went into effect on August 25, 2022, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center. In April 2023, the Tennessee legislature amended the ban to provide for the Medical Condition Exception. The amendment provided an exception to the abortion ban when a physician determined “using reasonable medical judgment" that an abortion was necessary “to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman." The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief on grounds that the abortion ban, as applied to pregnant persons with emergent medical conditions, violated the Tennessee state constitution. The complaint alleged that the Exception unconstitutionally violated the plaintiffs’ right to life and equal protection under the Tennessee constitution because it deprived pregnant Tennesseans of access to life-saving health care. The complaint further alleged the Exception was unconstitutionally vague so as to deprive physicians their rights to liberty and property by not providing adequate notice of what is prohibited conduct. The plaintiffs, thus, asked the state trial court to enjoin the enforcement of the abortion ban and to issue a declaration clarifying the Medical Condition Exception under Tennessee’s Declaratory Judgment Act.

On November 1, 2023, the State of Tennessee filed a motion to dismiss the case, contending that the State is protected through sovereign immunity, that the plaintiffs lacked standing, and that the plaintiffs pled no cause of action so as to vest the trial court with jurisdiction. 

On January 8, 2024, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, wherein four additional women joined the suit as plaintiffs. Due to the chilling effect of the abortion ban on performing medically necessary abortions, the plaintiffs also filed a motion for a temporary injunction, requesting the trial court to enjoin enforcement of the ban as it applies to dangerous pregnancy complications.

On October 17, 2024, the court temporarily blocked Tennessee’s abortion ban, allowing doctors to perform medically necessary abortions. The court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to block the enforcement of the criminal abortion statute but applied a four factor test to determine whether a temporary injunction may be granted: (1) the threat of irreparable harm to plaintiff; (2) the balance of harm between the plaintiff and defendant; (3) the likelihood of the plaintiff's success; and (4) public interest.

The court held that plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits of their constitutional claim and demonstrated immediate, irreparable harm to Plaintiff patients. The balance of harms to the parties and public interest factors, weigh strongly to both parties. Looking to the aforementioned factors and the parties' agreement that specific pregnancy-related emergency medical conditions discussed above fall under the Medical Necessity Exception, the court granted temporary injunctive relief for medically necessary abortions. 

The case remains ongoing.