A Tennessee restriction on speech about abortions for minors failed a First Amendment challenge at the federal appeals level, with a three-judge panel ruling in favor of attorney Rachel Welty and former state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court decision finding the law’s recruitment provision unconstitutional. That provision criminalized intentionally recruiting minors for abortions, including abortions performed in states where the procedure is legal.
The majority opinion, written by Judge Jane Stranch, identified a constitutional problem extending beyond restrictions on the subject of speech. Stranch wrote that the provision also limited the viewpoints Welty and Behn could express. The court’s decision rested on First Amendment protections.
The ruling concerns the recruitment provision, rather than Tennessee’s abortion law as a whole. Its reach included speech connected to an abortion outside Tennessee, making the legality of the procedure in the destination state insufficient to avoid the provision’s prohibition.
Attorney Daniel Horwitz represented Welty and Behn in the case. The appeals decision leaves intact their district court victory over that speech restriction.
In a separate legal dispute over abortion-related activity, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi is seeking a protective order against an information request from Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
The organization filed its petition late Wednesday after receiving the request on Sept. 3. According to the petition, the attorney general sought confidential patient health records, information about donors and the organization’s own donations, and details about its relationships with people and organizations that may hold similar views on abortion.
The requested information, as described in the petition, spans both patient care and the organization’s financial and associational activities. Planned Parenthood is asking a court for protection from that request.
In its court filing, Planned Parenthood said it does not provide gender-affirming care to minors. It also said it stopped providing abortions in Tennessee after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, while continuing to support patients within the law.
The petition followed another challenge to the attorney general’s information-gathering efforts. Abortion Care for Tennessee sought a similar protective order two days earlier after receiving a similar request from Skrmetti’s office.
The protective-order petitions and the appeals ruling involve different legal questions: the petitions concern requests for organizational information, while the federal decision addresses the constitutionality of the recruitment restriction.
Elsewhere in Nashville, August employment figures showed a small increase in unemployment, even as the city maintained the lowest rate among Tennessee’s largest cities.
Nashville’s unemployment rate was 3.1% in August 2026, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. That was up one-tenth of a percentage point from both July and August 2025, when the rate was 3.0%.
The department counted 13,401 people without work in Nashville’s workforce of 428,402. Murfreesboro’s rate was next lowest among the listed large cities at 3.2%, followed by Knoxville at 3.5%, Chattanooga at 3.8% and Clarksville at 4.2%.
Memphis recorded 5.6% unemployment, the highest rate among Tennessee cities. Across the state’s 95 counties, unemployment rose in 45, declined in 22 and held steady in 28. More counties therefore registered increases than decreases, though unchanged rates accounted for a substantial share of the statewide total.
Downtown Nashville also is hosting Artville, the annual public arts festival featuring dozens of local creators. The Friday-through-Sunday festival takes place at Walk of Fame Park and has no admission charge.
Live music and food trucks are part of the festival’s offerings alongside its focus on the local arts community. Thursday’s Artville Afterdark at Wasioto Park preceded the weekend gathering, bringing an evening arts event downtown before the main festival opened.
The weekend program combines opportunities to see local artists’ work with music and food in the downtown park.