Gov. Bill Lee responds questions during a news conference after a bill signing ceremony Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

On Tuesday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill that restricts adults from assisting minors in obtaining an abortion or receiving gender-affirming care without parental consent. The law will be enforced starting July 1.

Though abortion is banned in the state, with no exception for rape or incest, the newly approved law will criminalize an adult who acquires abortion pills for a minor and “recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant minor” to facilitate an abortion without consent from a parent or guardian. 

Violators of this law will face a Class A misdemeanor charge, which carries a potential prison sentence of just under one year.

This makes Tennessee the second state to enact the “abortion trafficking” law, following Idaho, which pioneered this type of legislation last year. Idaho’s law, however, faced immediate legal challenges from reproductive rights groups, leading to a federal judge temporarily blocking its enforcement last November.

Breaking this law not only penalizes those who assist minors in obtaining abortions but also creates provisions for future civil actions. It allows for lawsuits against individuals accused of “abortion trafficking” by the pregnant minor, the biological father or the parents of the minor. The only circumstance in which the biological father cannot pursue legal action is if the minor was impregnated resulting from rape.

Nonetheless, this legislation consists of little to no exemptions, including minors who were impregnated by their parents or guardians through rape. These laws do not differ from Tennessee’s abortion ban that has been in effect since 2022, with the only exception being a medical emergency. 

“We’ve decided abortion is only available to save the life of the mother. Unless the parents approve, you cannot take a minor across state lines to get an abortion,” state Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington), who introduced the bill alongside Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville), told the Associated Press.

GOP proponents of the bill continue to argue that it strengthens parental rights and protects minors from making irreversible decisions without their parents’ knowledge.

Tennessee’s legislation, similarly to Idaho, faces scrutiny and potential lawsuits from advocacy groups who counter that it infringes on the rights of minors and may lead to unsafe and clandestine procedures.