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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.