NEW: Appeals court approves immediate action on Tennessee’s abortion trigger law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal court has allowed Tennessee’s ban on abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy to take effect after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights case.

The action by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes before Tennessee’s other abortion ban, known as the so-called trigger ban, is set to restrict abortion almost entirely in less than a month. Both measures would make performing an abortion a felony and subject doctors to a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Republican state Attorney General Herbert Slatery filed an emergency motion on Friday to allow the state to begin implementing the six-week ban.

(IMAGE: Bristol Broadcasting Co News Archive)