On Thursday, the full Sixth Circuit court ruled 10-7 in favor of the law, in Bristol Regional Women’s Center v. Slatery.
“Before making life’s big decisions, it is often wise to take time to reflect. The people of Tennessee believed that having an abortion was one of those decisions. So they passed a law requiring a waiting period of 48 hours,” wrote Judge Amul Thapar, who authored the majority opinion in the case.
“Although the Supreme Court upheld a similar 24-hour waiting period in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the district court said that Tennessee’s waiting period violates a woman’s right to have an abortion. We disagree and reverse,” Thapar wrote.
Tennessee’s law required abortionists to inform a woman during her first appointment “that numerous public and private agencies and services are available to assist her during her pregnancy and after the birth of her child” if she chose not to have the abortion.
Barring a medical emergency, a patient was then required to wait 48 hours before the second appointment and proceeding with the abortion.
According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 33 states require that women receive counseling before having an abortion, as of July 1, 2021. Of these states, 26 require a waiting period before an abortion, “most often 24 hours.”
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