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Tennessee abortion regulations likely to be impacted by Supreme Court ruling

supremecourt.gov

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down abortion laws in Texas that are nearly identical to abortion regulations on the books in Tennessee.

The justices voted 5-3 Monday in favor of Texas clinics that protested the regulations as a thinly veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get an abortion in the nation's second-most populous state.

Texas had argued that its 2013 law and subsequent regulations were needed to protect women's health. The rules required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.

Tennessee’s Republican controlled legislature enacted nearly identical laws in 2012 and 2015. A lawsuit challenging the Tennessee regulations was put on hold earlier this year pending the outcome of the Texas case.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit a woman's right to an abortion.