Inside Tennessee, America’s most stringent anti-abortion state – podcast

1 year ago 61

When the US supreme court struck down the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that provided constitutional cover across the country for the right to an abortion, the law changed in some states practically overnight. Tennessee was one of them. Its Republican legislators had prepared for the eventuality and had a ‘trigger law’ waiting to be enacted, banning abortion completely.

As Stephanie Kirchgaessner tells Nosheen Iqbal, the reality now in Tennessee is one of doctors being afraid for their livelihoods and liberty to provide potentially life-saving healthcare. It’s one of terror for women who face travelling outside the state for a procedure that would end a non-viable pregnancy. It is so extreme that even some of the Republican lawmakers who brought it about are now having doubts.

 Ben Margot/AP
Photograph: Ben Margot/AP

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