Tennessee
Tennessee governor signs bill penalizing adults who help minors get abortions
Tennessee’s governor has approved legislation designed to block adults from helping minors get an abortion or receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, proposals that are both likely to face immediate legal challenges when they go into effect later this year.
The Republican governor, Bill Lee, quietly signed the bills on Tuesday without comment. However, the governor’s actions were not unexpected. During his time in office, Lee has enacted sweeping restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people and has defended Tennessee’s near total ban on abortion while stressing his opposition to the procedure.
Both laws go into effect on 1 July.
Lee’s actions mean Tennessee will soon become the second state in the nation to enact legislation that supporters say will stop any adult who “intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports” a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion without consent from the minor’s parents or guardians.
Ambulance drivers, emergency medical services personnel and other common transportation services are exempt under the law.
Those convicted of breaking the law would be charged with a class A misdemeanor, which requires a nearly one year imprisonment sentence.
“Parents have a right to be involved with their daughters’ wellbeing. The abortion industry has no right to keep parents in the dark at a time when their daughters are so vulnerable and could possibly be in danger,” said Stacy Dunn, Tennessee Right to Life’s president, in a statement.
Meanwhile, Tennessee is so far the first state to pursue penalizing adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent.
The bill mirrors almost the same language from a so-called anti-abortion trafficking proposal, where violations could range from talking to an adolescent about a website on which to find care to helping that young person travel to another state with looser restrictions on gender-affirming care services.
Last year, Idaho became the first state to enact the so-called “abortion trafficking” law, but a federal judge has since temporarily blocked the law after reproductive rights groups sued to challenge it.
The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Lee earlier this month warning that “there is nothing” in the statute that “suggests a court will look more favorably on its content-based criminalization of speech and expression” as they described the bill as “unconstitutionally vague”.
At the same time, the Planned Parenthood CEO, Ashley Coffield, told reporters that her organization was in “consultation with our lawyers about how to comply with the law if we need to comply with it or whether we can challenge the law”.
The Tennessee version does not contain exemptions for minors who may have been raped by their parents or guardians. Instead, the new statute says that the biological father of the pregnant minor may not pursue a civil action if the pregnancy was caused by rape.
Like Idaho, Tennessee bans abortions at all stages of pregnancy but there are exemptions in cases of molar pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies, and to remove a miscarriage or to save the life of the mother.
Tennessee
Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WSMV) – Three Memphis voters, through the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee leaders, claiming the state’s new congressional maps are discriminating against Black voters.
The ACLU announced the lawsuit on Monday, saying that three organizations — the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance, are also part of the lawsuit that was filed against Sec. of State Tre Hargett, Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins and several others.
“In May 2026, over the course of mere days, a White-dominated supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly redrew Tennessee’s congressional map to crack the predominantly Black city of Memphis into three pieces and destroy the only district in which Black voters are able to elect representatives of their choice, shutting Black voters completely out of power in federal elections in Tennessee,” the filing states.
The ACLU and the other plaintiffs echo arguments made by Democrats while the maps were being debated during last week’s special session: “The cracking of Memphis unlawfully targeted Black voters.”
“The new plan carves through the center of Tennessee’s second largest city, dividing neighborhoods that have voted together for decades, splitting numerous counties and precincts, and cutting the Black population into thirds with suspect precision,” the lawsuit says. “The districts then run hundreds of miles east towards the Nashville suburbs, snaking through predominantly White and rural counties to dilute the voting power of now-divided Black Memphians.”
Gov. Bill Lee signed the new congressional map into law last week. The new map splits Shelby County, home of Memphis, into three districts.
Republicans have said the map modernizes the districting process and removes “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.” Democrats, on the other hand, say that the move is meant to dismantle the Black-majority district.
Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) told WSMV that Republicans “have been very clear” on their intention to secure a ninth Republican seat in the state. He has said the map would help “ensure the state’s representation in Washington reflects its conservative values.”
The lawsuit draws significant attention to the racial makeup of Tennessee lawmakers, describing, “White control over Tennessee politics.” Plaintiffs allege that a white majority “faction” of state leaders “gave bizarre, robotic answers to the most basic questions about the map they were sponsoring.”
“None of the sponsors of the plan would admit who actually drew it, and the lead Senate sponsor—a White legislator with over a decade of service in the Tennessee General Assembly who had attended law school in Memphis — would not say whether Memphis was predominantly Black and claimed not to know that Congressional District 9 was a majority- Black district,” the filing says.
They seem to be referencing Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), who was asked during the special session if he was aware that the majority of the residents in the ninth district are Black.
“I’m not aware,” he responded. “I know how the map is divided, but I don’t know the racial makeup of the map.”
Stevens got his juris doctorate from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
The three Memphis residents who took part in the lawsuit are Amber Sherman, a lifelong resident of Memphis and the lead Tennessee regional organizer for Black Voters Matter Fund, Rachael Spriggs, a Memphis resident for more than 20 years who is the director of Power Building for the Equity Alliance, and Kermit Moore, a nearly lifelong resident of Memphis who is the president of the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute.
The lawsuit claims intentional discrimination in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments, as well as retaliation for protected expression and association in violation of the First Amendment.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the newly drawn map is unconstitutional and restore district lines before primary elections proceed.
Copyright 2026 WSMV. All rights reserved.
Tennessee
New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet
Tennessee State Senators Michele Reneau of Signal Mountain and Bo Watson of Hixson spoke today about the new law supporting police K-9’s.
The act allows injured dogs to get stabilization services on-site and then be transported via ambulance or helicopter to a vet hospital.
“In the past, officers were basically putting the k9 in their car and transporting them in their in their own vehicle, they didn’t have an ambulance or an air ambulance,” said Senator Watson. “This allows for an air ambulance. It also allows for a educational program for those in EMS, who will be taught how to manage canines emergency medical condition, which is different than a human’s.”
In April, Erlanger flew a K9 officer from Clay County, to North Carolina.
It was the first time the program was used for a live transport after several training runs.
Tennessee
What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee softball’s path back to the Women’s College World Series is set. On Sunday night, the Lady Vols were named the No. 7 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will host the regional stage in Knoxville as it looks to return to the WCWS in back-to-back seasons.
The Lady Vols are matched up with Virginia, Indiana and Northern Kentucky in the regionals. It would play Georgia, Clemson, UNC Greensboro or Charleston in the super regionals.
Ahead of the tournament, here’s a look at each team in the Knoxville Regional and potential matchups for the ensuing best-of-three super regional if Tennessee advances.
Knoxville Regional
7-seed Virginia
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
Indiana
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
Northern Kentucky
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
More From RTI: Everything Josh Elander Said After Tennessee Baseball Dropped Series Finale Against Texas
Knoxville Super Regional
3-seed Georgia
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
6-seed Clemson
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- Jamison Brockenbrough – .342
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
UNC Greensboro
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
- Brooklyn Shroyer – 1.41
Charleston
- 2026 record
- 2026 conference tournament result
- 2025 NCAAT result
- 2026 BAVG leader
- 2026 HR leader
- 2026 ERA leader
- Mackenzie Mathis – 3.34
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