Lawyer’s mission: Translate Tenn.’s bewildering abortion ban

By CLAIRE GALOFARO
AP National Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chloe Akers considers herself a grizzled criminal defense attorney. Until a few months ago, she didn’t spend much time thinking about abortion. For all her 39 years, abortion was not a crime, so she’d never imagined having to defend someone accused of performing one. Then the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Akers pulled up Tennessee’s criminal abortion statute. She was shocked. It makes performing an abortion a Class C felony. There are no exceptions, not even to save a mother’s life. Instead, it offers doctors an “affirmative defense” if they are criminally charged. Akers quit her job and is touring the state explaining abortion law to doctors, and the intricacies of pregnancies to lawyers who might soon have to defend them.