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Lawyer’s mission: Translate Tenn.’s bewildering abortion ban

Chloe Akers prepares for a presentation, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Nashville, Tenn. Until a few months ago, as a criminal defense attorney, she didn’t spend much time thinking about abortion - for all her 39 years, abortion was not a crime, so she’d never imagined having to defend someone accused of performing one. (AP Photo/John Amis) Chloe Akers prepares for a presentation, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Nashville, Tenn. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Akers pulled up Tennessee’s criminal abortion statute. She was shocked. It makes performing an abortion a Class C felony. There are no exceptions, not even to save a mother's life. (AP Photo/John Amis) Chloe Akers, left, talks with Rabbi Laurie Rice and Dr. Nancy Lipsitz, right, before giving a presentation at Congregation Micah synagogue, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Brentwood, Tenn. A gynecologist, Lipsitz describes the fear she’s seen in her patients. One decided to move out of state. Another asked her: If things go bad, will you have to let me die? (AP Photo/John Amis) Chloe Akers pauses while preparing for a presentation, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Nashville, Tenn. Her own sister survived a high-risk pregnancy with twin boys - because she had top-notch care, she believes. She thinks all of her neighbors deserve the same. (AP Photo/John Amis) Chloe Akers prepares for a presentation, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Nashville, Tenn. The criminal defense attorney has become the state’s primary interpreter of Tennessee’s new criminal abortion statute, which went into effect Aug. 25. She quit her cushy job in a law firm and started a nonprofit she named Standing Together Tennessee. (AP Photo/John Amis) The Tennessee criminal abortion statute is projected behind Chloe Akers as she prepares to speak at Congregation Micah synagogue, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Brentwood, Tenn. Tennessee’s law is one of the strictest in the country. It makes performing an abortion a Class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. There are no exceptions. (AP Photo/John Amis) Chloe Akers talks to Rabbi Laurie Rice, right, and Dr. Nancy Lipsitz, left, before giving a presentation at Congregation Micah synagogue, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 in Brentwood, Tenn. Akers considers herself a grizzled criminal defense attorney. Until a few months ago, she didn’t spend much time thinking about abortion - for all her 39 years, abortion was not a crime, so she’d never imagined having to defend someone accused of performing one. (AP Photo/John Amis)