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Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-10-301

Legislative intent and findings

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Memphis Planned Parenthood, Inc. v. Sundquist (1999)

Most recently applied in Blackard v. Memphis Area Medical Center for Women, Inc. (August 2001)

Acts 1988, ch. 929, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

198919902000200120
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) It is the intent of the general assembly in enacting this parental consent provision to further the important and compelling state interests of: Protecting minors against their own immaturity;

(2) Fostering the family structure and preserving it as a viable social unit; and

(3) Protecting the rights of parents to rear children who are members of their household.

(4) The general assembly finds as fact that: Immature minors often lack the ability to make fully informed choices that take into account of both immediate and long-range consequences;

(5) The medical, emotional, and psychological consequences of abortion are serious and can be lasting, particularly when the patient is immature;

(6) The capacity to become pregnant and the capacity for mature judgment concerning the wisdom of an abortion are not necessarily related;

(7) Parents ordinarily possess information essential to a physician's exercise of the physician's best medical judgment concerning the child; and

(8) Parents who are aware that their minor daughter has had an abortion may better ensure that their daughter receives adequate medical attention after the abortion.

(9) The general assembly further finds that parental consultation is usually desirable and in the best interests of the minor.

Current official text: Tennessee Code (LexisNexis). Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Tennessee statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.