Judges in Florida and Kentucky have moved to prevent those states from enforcing abortion bans or restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling last week.
Key points:
- Florida judge temporarily blocks state law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy
- In Kentucky, a judge blocked the state’s activation law banning abortion passed in 2019
- Precautionary measures have given clinics time to continue providing services
In Tallahassee, Florida, Circuit Court Judge John Cooper said he would accept a petition from abortion rights groups to temporarily suspend a state law that would ban abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy.
In Kentucky, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mitch Perry issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing a ban passed in 2019 and triggered by the Supreme Court decision.
Also Thursday, the high court overturned lower federal court rulings that had invalidated Roe-based abortion limits in Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana.
The Florida and Kentucky decisions came amid a flurry of litigation by abortion rights groups seeking to preserve women’s ability to terminate a pregnancy following Friday’s historic Supreme Court ruling. conservative majority.
This ruling gave states the authority to deny, limit or allow abortion.
Prohibition bans on the activation law are coming into effect in U.S. states. (AP: Gemunu Amarasinghe)
Prohibitions and restrictions are coming into effect or are about to do so in 22 states, including 13 like Kentucky with so-called “detonating” laws designed to go into effect if Roe v Wade were repealed, according to the Guttmacher Institute .
Texas, Louisiana and Utah state courts have also temporarily blocked bans in those states since last week, and abortion providers are seeking similar relief in states like Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi and West Virginia.
Precautionary measures have given clinics time to continue providing services.
The Florida abortion ban will be suspended
The 15-week Florida ban, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in April, was due to go into effect Friday.
The law reflects Mississippi law at the heart of the Supreme Court case that reversed Roe v. Wade.
Florida and Kentucky are the last states to block their abortion laws. (AP / The Orange County Register: Keith Birmingham)
Along with Planned Parenthood affiliates and other abortion providers in Florida, Judge Cooper concluded that the law violates the guarantees of privacy rights in the state constitution, which the state high court has said covers the right to abortion.
State law had previously restricted abortions after 24 weeks.
Judge Cooper said his decision will only take effect after he signs a written order, which is not likely until Tuesday or later.
A spokeswoman for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, said the state will appeal.
In Kentucky, Judge Perry sided with two abortion clinics, including a subsidiary of Planned Parenthood, which challenged an activation ban as well as another law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. , before some women find out they are pregnant.
The Kentucky ban only allows abortion to protect women from death or serious injury.
“We are pleased that the court has recognized the devastation that is happening in Kentucky and has decided to block the community’s cruel abortion bans,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
The decision is temporary, however, and a new hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on the clinics’ request for a precautionary measure to block law enforcement.
State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, said in a statement that Judge Perry had no basis in the Kentucky constitution to allow clinics to resume abortions.
“We can’t let the same mistake that happened to Roe v Wade, almost 50 years ago, be made again in Kentucky,” he said.
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Reuters