by Brandon Burley and The Redemption Project
Marsha Blackburn, Jerri Green and Lauren Pinkston offer sharply different approaches to Tennessee abortion law. But voters also need to separate federal votes, campaign promises and the legal powers a governor actually has.
Tennessee’s next governor will not inherit a blank page on abortion.
The state already has a criminal abortion law.
Under current Tennessee law, abortion remains prohibited except when a licensed physician determines it is necessary to prevent the pregnant woman’s death or a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. Tennessee lawmakers clarified that medical-exception language in 2025.
That matters because the November comparison is not simply between three candidates using different words such as “pro-life,” “choice” or “reproductive freedom.”
The governing questions are more specific.
Would the candidate keep Tennessee’s current law?
Repeal it?
Replace it?
Expand its exceptions?
What would happen to IVF and contraception?
And perhaps most importantly:
Which of those things could a governor actually do without the General Assembly?
For this series, the comparison now focuses on Republican nominee Marsha Blackburn, Democratic nominee Jerri Green and independent Lauren Pinkston.
Their evidence is not equal.
Blackburn brings a long federal voting and legislative record.
Green brings a local government record and a detailed gubernatorial platform.
Pinkston has no comparable legislative voting record, so her evidence comes primarily from her campaign platform.
Those are different kinds of evidence.
They should stay different.
Blackburn: a strong anti-abortion record, with separate support for IVF and contraception
Blackburn has the clearest legislative record of the three.
