By Tom Strode
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist and government pro-life supporters welcomed a federal appeals court ruling that enables the state of Tennessee to enforce its ban of abortions based on disability, ethnicity or sex.
The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed Friday (Nov. 20) a federal judge’s order that had blocked enforcement of the “reasons ban,” as it is known. The measure – which prohibits an abortion when a doctor knows the request for the procedure is driven by the unborn child’s ethnicity, sex or a diagnosis of Down syndrome – was part of a pro-life package enacted in July and enjoined immediately in federal court.
The state requested the Sixth Circuit Court permit the “reasons ban” section only to be enforced while the case works its way through the courts, and a panel of judges agreed in a 2-1 decision. [Read more…]


