Federal judge temporarily blocks Kentucky's 15-week abortion ban, abortions to resume
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In a decision in favor of abortion advocates across the state, a federal judge temporarily blocked Kentucky officials from enforcing a new abortion law on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings in Louisville issued a temporary restraining order at Planned Parenthood’s request a week after the law went into effect. The measure passed on April 13 made Kentucky the first U.S. state without legal abortion access since 1973.
According to Jennings, because the law went into effect immediately, there was not enough time for regulations governing abortion to be written for clinics to comply with, as the law required. At least two of the state’s remaining clinics said they couldn’t meet the law’s requirements and filed lawsuits challenging the law.
“Because plaintiff cannot comply with HB 3 and thus cannot legally perform abortion services, its patients face a substantial obstacle to exercising their rights to a pre-viability abortion,” she wrote.
At this time Jennings did not consider the constitutionality of the law’s requirements and instead focused on how clinics would comply with the requirements since the state did not set up clear guidelines. According to the Associated Press, Jennings said her order does not prevent the state from crafting regulations.
The news comes a week after Kentucky legislators suspended legal abortion access by forcing providers to stop offering abortions until they can meet certain requirements through a law that was to be effective right away. Under the law, state clinics were not only banned from performing abortions after 15 weeks but also required to cremate fetal remains of abortions that were permissible, alongside birth-death or stillbirth certificates.
HB 3 required Kentucky’s state-operated health agency, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, to create new forms for clinics, including a document for providers to report abortions performed in Kentucky and a document to obtain informed consent. While the law also required drugs only to be given by “qualified physicians,” it did not outline how physicians were to register.
“This is a win, but it is only the first step,” said Rebecca Gibron, the CEO for Planned Parenthood in Kentucky. The clinic is immediately resuming abortion services. “We’re prepared to fight for our patients’ right to basic health in court and to continue doing everything in our power in ensure abortion access is permanently secured in Kentucky.”
HB 3 was initially vetoed by Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, the Republican-majority House and Senate overrode his veto to enable the bill. Beshear’s main concern was the lack of an exception for rape or incest. He also noted that the bill was “likely unconstitutional” because of the requirements it imposed on providers, Reuters reported.
States across the country are passing their own versions of heartbeat bills or abortion bans that not only limit when abortions are possible but imprison doctors who perform them. Most of these bills are modeled after the Mississippi law that is making its way to the Supreme Court in an attempt to reverse Roe v. Wade. The Mississippi Supreme Court decision could reverse the landmark Roe case and impact abortion rights nationally.
“Abortion remains legal and is once again available in Kentucky,” said Heather Gatnarek, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of EMW Women’s surgical center. “We will always fight to keep it that way here and across the country.”