Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi has asked a Nashville court to set aside a sweeping legal demand from Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti that seeks organizational records, donor details, and the medical files of adult and minor patients. The Memphis-based organization, which operates four clinics in the state, says the demand is part of an ongoing investigation targeting medication abortion and gender-affirming care.
According to the Memphis Flyer, Skrmetti sent Planned Parenthood a 17-page demand letter on September 3 alleging the organization had engaged in multiple violations of state law. The letter cited the Consumer Protection Act, the Medicaid False Claims Act, and the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporations Act, and it covered the period from February 1, 2022, to the present. In all, the demand requested 16 sets of documents and nine written statements under oath.
Among the requests: documents about people who obtained abortion pills by mail, delivery service, express company, common carrier, or telemedicine, plus patient records and files for more than a dozen named individuals whose clinical records were specifically sought. The demand also asked for mental health letters diagnosing listed people with gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder, and medical records for minors given or offered cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, or related drugs after July 1, 2023 — the date Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors took effect. Planned Parenthood says it has never offered gender-affirming care to minors, though it does offer that care to adults.
Patients, Donors, and Website Staff Named
The letter also required Planned Parenthood to identify, under oath, people it assisted in obtaining abortion pills intended to terminate a pregnancy, and to name employees, officers, or agents responsible for the content of its website. Planned Parenthood says it has never provided abortion care via telehealth — a service Tennessee lawmakers have outlawed outright. The organization ceased offering abortions as part of its healthcare services after the state's ban took hold, and now offers information, financial assistance, and referrals to patients seeking abortions outside Tennessee.
In its petition, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, Planned Parenthood asked the court to issue a protective order setting aside or modifying the demands, arguing that disclosing patients' private health information would contravene legal duties, medical ethics, and privacy rights.
Planned Parenthood's lawyers called Skrmetti's demands unlawful and intrusive, arguing they attack free speech rights to offer accurate abortion information. Ashley Coffield, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, called the investigation politically motivated and deeply disturbing, saying Skrmetti is targeting Tennesseans seeking or getting essential health care services. Coffield said the investigation seeks to ban abortion, intimidate patients and providers, shut down Planned Parenthood health centers, and violate patient privacy. Governor Bill Lee has previously called Planned Parenthood a radical political organization, per the Memphis Flyer's reporting.
A Similar Demand at Abortion Care Tennessee
Skrmetti's office has said it has authority to request information when there may be a violation of state law, but declined to comment on any specific matter tied to the case. Abortion Care Tennessee, which provides information and funding to patients seeking abortions, is facing a similar demand letter and investigation. That organization received its own request for information on September 10, seeking internal information about communications and processes related to mail-order abortion pills, according to Her Safe Harbor.
The pattern echoes Skrmetti's 2023 investigation into Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which turned over patient records in response to the attorney general's civil investigative demands. Transgender patients sued after the disclosure, WPLN News reported. A June 2024 U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation went further, criticizing Vanderbilt for failing its responsibility to protect patient privacy and contrasting the hospital with out-of-state institutions that successfully resisted overbroad demands.
Federal Court Sides Against a Related Tennessee Law
The filing came the day before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down a separate 2024 Tennessee law prohibiting recruiting a pregnant minor to obtain an abortion, regardless of where the abortion would occur, ruling the statute violated First Amendment free speech protections, according to Tennessee Tribune. That ruling arrives against the backdrop of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2025 decision in *United States v. Skrmetti*, which found that Tennessee's ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors with gender dysphoria did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
The state has also clashed with federal regulators over abortion counseling before: in August 2024, the Sixth Circuit upheld a decision stripping Tennessee of federal Title X family planning grants after the state refused to offer neutral, non-directive abortion counseling and referral options, as Click2Houston reported at the time.
