World | Fri Apr 22, 2016 9:19pm EDT

U.S. judge orders recount in Tennessee abortion vote

A federal judge on Friday ordered a recount of Tennessee's 2014 ballot measure that removed the right to an abortion from the state's constitution.

Chief District Judge Kevin Sharp called the procedure by which the state counted votes for the measure, Amendment 1, "fundamentally unfair." He said it violated equal protection and due process rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

"As a remedy, the Court will order a recount of the 2014 Election solely in relation to Amendment 1, but defer ruling on the question of whether the election on Amendment 1 should be voided," Sharp wrote in a 52-page decision.

Amendment 1 was approved by 53 percent of the vote after one of the most costly election campaigns in Tennessee history.

Approval cleared the way for Republican Governor Bill Haslam to sign into law bills setting a 48-hour abortion waiting period and requiring clinics performing 50 or more abortions a year to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.

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