The Road To Gilead, Local Edition, Con't

Kentucky's Supreme Court is upholding the state's near total abortion ban laws...for now.

 

The Kentucky Supreme Court has issued a ruling that keeps the state’s two near-total bans on abortion in place and remanded the case back to the trial court for constitutional review.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perrylast year blocked enforcement of the state’s “trigger law,” which bans abortion in nearly all cases, and a separate six-week ban.The state Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, allowing the abortion bans to go into effect last August.

And now, in a 150-page opinion, Supreme Court justices have upheld that decision.

The majority opinion Thursday states that Kentucky's two abortion providers lack the constitutional standing to challenge the laws on their patients' behalf, but that they do have standing to challenge the trigger ban on their own.

But justices left the door open to weigh in on the issue further, saying the ruling “does not in any way determine whether the Kentucky Constitution protects or does not protect the right to receive an abortion.”

The opinion goes on to say that nothing in the opinion “shall be construed to prevent an appropriate party from filing suit at a later date.”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the ACLU issued a joint statement after the ruling, saying justices “failed to protect the health and safety of nearly a million people” by refusing to block the laws.

“Even after Kentuckians overwhelmingly voted against an anti-abortion ballot measure, abortion remains banned in the state. We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision, but we will never give up the fight to restore bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom in Kentucky. This fight is not over,” the groups stated.

So I hope that the ACLU and Planned Parenthood get on the ball here and file another case.  We'll see what happens, but for now, abortion is illegal, and Republicans are doing everything in their power to criminalize it for women and doctors.

The goal is to control women as property of the GOP state, and that plan is proceeding across the country.