Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., said there were no "current" plans for The Volunteer State to introduce an abortion law similar to the one recently enacted in Texas, The Hill reports.
Lee told reporters on Thursday that his priority was to wait for a court ruling on the abortion ban Tennessee already had passed, The Hill said.
"I haven't read the Texas law. So I can't really speak to the particular nuances of that piece of legislation. I can only speak to what we're doing here," Lee told reporters.
"We do not have any current plans to move forward beyond what we are currently awaiting which is a ruling from the court on the existing piece of legislation that we have."
A ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect Wednesday in Texas. The law gives private citizens the power to enforce it by enabling them to sue abortion providers and anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks.
There are no exception for women who become pregnant due to rape or incest, but there is an exception if the mother's life is at risk, The Hill reported
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to keep the Texas law.
Tennessee is awaiting a ruling on abortion legislation passed last year. The state bill also bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as well as abortions based on the fetus’ race and sex, and a diagnosis of Down Syndrome, The Hill said
Tennessee federal judge William Campbell issued a preliminary injunction on the measure in February.
"The public interest will not be harmed by preserving the status quo," Campbell wrote.
Lee said that he hopes the "unborn are protected in any way that we can see that protection for them" in Tennessee.
Republican-led states that have passed increasingly tough abortion restrictions only to see them blocked by the federal courts have a new template in the Texas law, The Associated Press said Thursday.
GOP lawmakers in at least half a dozen states said they planned to introduce bills using the Texas law as a model, hoping it provides a pathway to enacting the kind of abortion limits they have sought for years.
Last month, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Tennessee's 48-hour waiting period for an abortion, overturning a lower-court ruling that it was unconstitutional.
The 2015 law requires doctors to give a woman seeking an abortion information about the risks and then wait two days before conducting the abortion.
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