The Road To Gilead Goes Through Kentucky, Con't

After weeks of legal wrangling over the state's existing trigger law banning abortion in nearly all cases once Roe was overturned, a state appeals court judge has reinstated the ban, overruling a lower court injunction that temporarily blocked it until the case could be taken before the Kentucky Supreme Court. The order means GOP Attorney General Daniel Cameron can immediately begin enforcing the ban.

 

A Kentucky judge reinstituted the state’s near-total abortion ban Monday, reversing a lower court’s order from less than two weeks ago that temporarily allowed the procedures to continue in the state.

The decision by Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Larry E. Thompson means that abortions are again illegal in the state, unless the mother is at risk of death or serious permanent injury, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Health-care workers who provide abortion services can face up to five years in prison, though mothers are not subject to criminal liability.

The order came in response to a request by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) that the appellate court overturn a July 22 decision by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry, who had sided with abortion providers.

Last month, Perry had granted an injunction preventing Kentucky’s abortion ban from taking effect after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June. Perry sided with two abortion clinics that said the bans were unconstitutional because they went against the rights to privacy and self-determination enshrined in the state constitution

In his ruling, Perry reasoned there was a “substantial likelihood” that the bans were unconstitutional in Kentucky and blocked the abortion restrictions from taking effect until a final decision on their constitutionality could be made by state courts.

But Thompson overruled Perry, on grounds that allowing abortions to proceed — even temporarily — is unfair because the procedures would be irreversible, should state courts later rule the abortion restrictions to be constitutional. “The Court emphasizes, however, that it expresses no opinion whatsoever as to the merits of the underlying dispute,” he added.

Cameron welcomed Thompson’s ruling. “I appreciate the court’s decision to allow Kentucky’s pro-life laws to take effect while we continue to vigorously defend the constitutionality of these important protections for women and unborn children,” Kentucky’s attorney general said.

 

So yes, in Kentucky you will bear your rapist's child, because anyone in the state that helps you to end that pregnancy faces five years in prison. Ohio's ban is in place, Indiana's ban is expected to be passed soon, so if you live in the Cincinnati area, you have no right to bodily autonomy unless you drive to Illinois or Pennsylvania.

Republicans like Cameron are careful to say that women will not face prosecution for abortions or suspected abortions through miscarriages. Kentucky doesn't have Texas-style civil bounty bills for ratting out women who do end an unwanted pregnancy.

The "yet" is something that has a palpable presence, and that will be coming soon.

The borders of the states where women are second-class citizens are firming up.