Monday Gov. Bill Lee signed into law the abortion legislation he proposed and which was passed by the General Assembly in the last hours of the recently completed legislative session. However, it remained in effect for less than an hour. 
 
The law that some proponents suggest is one of the country’s strongest protections for unborn children, prohibits an abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. The measure among other things also bans an abortion when the doctor knows the request for the procedure is driven by the race or sex of the child or by a diagnosis of Down syndrome. According to The Tennessean newspaper, within 45 minutes of Lee's action, U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell issued a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of the law at the request of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates. 
 
Although the plaintiffs requested the restraining order last week, Judge Campbell opted to wait for the bill to become law to rule on whether to block the bans included in it. In granting the temporary restraining order Monday, he wrote that he's "bound by the Supreme Court holdings prohibiting undue burdens on the availability of pre-viability abortions."
 
On July 24th, the Court will hear arguments on whether the state should be enjoined (prohibited) from enforcing the law during the balance of the litigation.

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