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Judge temporarily blocks Tennessee surgical center abortion law

The law signed in May by Republican Governor Bill Haslam applies to all clinics that perform 50 abortions or more annually and was due to take effect on July 1. A company that operates abortion clinics in Nashville and Bristol filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the requirements and asked U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Sharp to block the law from taking effect, saying it was impossible to meet the deadline for licensing. The state health department did not make applications available until June 16, will not issue a license to a clinic until it has a full set of architectural plans to review, and requires a clinic to pass a site inspection scheduled with up to 45 days of advanced notice, Sharp’s order said.

Tennessee governor expected to sign bill requiring abortion waiting period

By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – Tennessee abortion clinics will have to be licensed as surgical centers and women will be required to wait 48 hours after counseling before undergoing an abortion under bills approved by state lawmakers on Tuesday. Republican Governor Bill Haslam is expected to sign both measures into law when they get to him, a spokesman said. Tennessee would join 22 states that require abortion providers to meet ambulatory surgical center standards and 26 states that have waiting periods, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports access to abortion. The measures follow a Tennessee amendment approved by voters in November that allows the state General Assembly to change abortion policies for the first time since the state Supreme Court struck down abortion restrictions in 2000.