Abortions may resume in Kentucky after judge grants temporary suspension of 'trigger' law

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Abortions may resume in Kentucky, at least for now, a state judge has ruled.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry on Thursday granted a request by the state's two abortion providers for a temporary suspension of the state's "trigger" law that bans abortions in Kentucky.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and EMW Women's Surgical Center, the state's only two abortion providers, were reviewing the one-page order Thursday and Kentucky law before determining when their Louisville clinics might be able to resume providing abortions.

But both celebrated what is at least a temporary reprieve of Friday's abrupt shutdown of abortion services after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down abortion as a federal constitutional right.

"We're glad the court recognized the devastation happening in Kentucky and decided to block the commonwealth's cruel abortion bans," said Planned Parenthood, EMW and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which represents EMW, in a statement.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, an anti-abortion Republican whose lawyers are defending Kentucky's abortion laws, released a statement Thursday criticizing the order.

“In the wake of an historic victory for life at the nation’s highest court, today, one judge in Kentucky has, without basis in the Kentucky Constitution, allowed two clinics to resume abortions," it said. "We cannot let the same mistake that happened in Roe v. Wade, nearly 50 years ago, to be made again in Kentucky. We will be seeking relief from this order."

He didn't elaborate on what relief his office might seek. Lawyers for the ACLU said the temporary order is not subject to an appeal.

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Kentucky becomes at least the fourth state where a judge has temporarily blocked a state law banning or strictly limiting abortion under a strategy abortion rights advocates are using to challenge such laws based on state constitutional claims.

Perry's order says Kentucky is immediately restrained from enforcing the trigger law. He also agreed to temporarily block enforcement of a 2019 law that bans abortions at six weeks of pregnancy, generally before many people realize they are pregnant.

The 2019 trigger law calls for an immediate end to abortions in Kentucky if the U.S. Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade — the 1973 case establishing abortion as a constitutional right— which it did June 24.

It allows abortions only to save the life of the pregnant patient or to prevent disabling injury. The law provides no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or for disabling fetal anomalies.

EMW and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville, had immediately suspended services after the Supreme Court ruling was announced. The suspension caused chaos at EMW where patients were waiting Friday for abortions, leaving them in tears and begging for help, clinic co-owner Ona Marshall said.

Lawyers for EMW said in court Wednesday that 15 patients were turned away Friday and nearly 200 appointments have been canceled.

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Perry's ruling follows a hearing Wednesday where lawyers for Planned Parenthood and EMW argued that abortion remains a right in Kentucky under the state constitution. They asked for a temporary order barring enforcement of the state trigger law while a lawsuit they filed goes through court.

But lawyers for Cameron argued the law represents the will of the legislature and there is no state constitutional claim to abortion.

The legal challenge is part of a broader strategy by abortion rights advocates to pursue claims in state courts now that the Supreme Court has effectively ended the federal claim. Such challenges have allowed at least temporary restoration of some abortion services in states, including Texas, Louisiana and Utah.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in Ohio Wednesday, arguing its state constitution provides a right to abortion. The legal challenge comes after Ohio reinstated a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy once Roe was struck down.

Reach Deborah Yetter on Twitter at @d_yetter.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky abortions may resume after judge suspends trigger law