Judge temporarily blocks Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban

Judge temporarily blocks Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban

SeattlePI.com

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A judge cleared the way Thursday for abortions to resume in Kentucky, temporarily blocking the state’s near-total ban on the procedure that was triggered by the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Abortion-rights groups fought for the ruling that pauses the 2019 Kentucky law for now. Under the so-called trigger provisions, abortions ended abruptly June 24 once the nation’s highest court ruled to end federal constitutional protections for abortions.

Since then, nearly 200 women with scheduled appointments have been turned away from EMW Women’s Surgical Center, one of the two Louisville abortion clinics, according to Heather Gatnarek, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU released a joint statement saying they were glad the “cruel abortion bans” were blocked, adding that since last week's ruling, "numerous Kentuckians have been forced to carry pregnancies against their will or flee their home state in search of essential care. Despite this victory, we know this fight is far from over.”

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican who is running for governor, said Thursday's ruling had no basis in the state constitution and that he would challenge it. “We will do everything possible to continue defending this law and to ensure that unborn life is protected in the Commonwealth,” he said in a statement.

The Kentucky case reflects the battles being waged in courthouses around the country after the Supreme Court left it up to the states to decide whether abortion is legal within their borders. Some of the disputes involve bans that have been on the books, unenforced, for generations. Some involve “trigger laws” that were specifically designed to take effect if Roe were...

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