A Louisville judge has issued an injunction that blocks the Kentucky fetal heartbeat law until the case has had its chance to go through court. For the time being, this will keep abortion legal in Kentucky.
“Once again, the courts have rightly stopped Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s relentless efforts to ban abortion, which would have devastating consequences for Kentuckians,” said leaders from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of EMW Women’s Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Indiana, Kentucky, in a statement.
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry made the decision Friday, which comes after his June decision that temporarily blocked the implementation of a trigger ban that automatically kicked in once the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the United States.
Appearing outside the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday after a hearing on another lawsuit, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he expected a decision soon from Perry, not knowing it would come the next day, and that his office would be appealing his decision.
“My hope is that we’ll have a ruling in the next few weeks from Judge Perry, at which time the order will be final and appealable,” Cameron said Thursday. “We can take it directly to the Kentucky appellate.”
Cameron also said the law “expresses the values of Kentucky” after 19 members of the Democratic Party of Kentucky voted in favor of the 2019 law.Â
“What I’ll say about the Human Life Protection Act is that when it passed, it passed with bipartisan support,” Cameron said.
Cameron is likely to appeal the decision, but for now, the two abortion clinics in Kentucky that still perform the procedure – Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center – can continue providing the service.
“No one should be forced to carry a pregnancy against their will or flee the state to access essential health care. Kentuckians have a right to abortion under the state constitution, and we’ll continue fighting for that right so that every person in the commonwealth can get the care they need,” said the leaders from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of EMW Women’s Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Indiana, Kentucky, in a statement.
