NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee voters approve giving lawmakers more power to regulate abortions.
The change opens the way for the state Legislature to enact many new restrictions on abortion in Tennessee.
The referendum was originally conceived in response to a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court decision that held abortion was protected by the state constitution as part of a woman’s fundamental right to privacy.
The amendment’s supporters argued that the high court’s decision took away the people’s right to weigh in on abortion through their elected representatives.
The constitutional amendment states, in part, “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”
