LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Abortions may resume in Kentucky, 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.
He also agreed to temporarily block enforcement of a law that bans abortions at six weeks of pregnancy.
The 2019 trigger law calls for an immediate end to abortions in Kentucky should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade — the 1973 case establishing abortion as a constitutional right — which it did June 24.
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The state’s only two abortion providers, EMW Women’s Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville, had immediately suspended services after the ruling was announced.
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 Kentucky Attorney General Daniel 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.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in Ohio on 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.
Such challenges have allowed at least temporary restoration of some abortion services in states, including Texas, Louisiana and Utah.
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Reach Deborah Yetter on Twitter at @d_yetter.