June 30 (Reuters) – Judges in Florida and Kentucky on Thursday decided to block these states from imposing bans or restrictions on abortion after the US Supreme Court last week overturned Rowe v. Wade in 1973, which established a nationwide law on it. .
In Tallahassee, Florida, District Court Judge John Cooper said he would satisfy a petition from abortion rights groups to temporarily suspend a U.S. law that would ban abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.
In Kentucky, Jefferson County Judge Mitch Perry issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the state from imposing a ban passed in 2019 and triggered by a Supreme Court ruling.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
The decisions in Florida and Kentucky came amid a flurry of lawsuits from abortion rights groups seeking to preserve people’s ability to terminate pregnancies, following Friday’s historic decision by the conservative-majority Supreme Court.
This decision gave states the power to refuse, restrict or allow abortions. On Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned lower federal court decisions that struck down abortion restrictions in Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana based on Roe. Read more
Prohibitions and restrictions are already in place or ready to be made in 22 states, including 13 such as Kentucky with so-called “trigger laws” designed to take effect if Roe v. Wade repeals, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the right to abortion. advocacy research group. Read more
State courts in Texas, Louisiana and Utah have also temporarily blocked bans in those states since last week, and abortion providers are seeking similar relief in states including Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi and West Virginia.
The regulations have given clinics time to continue providing services.
“The delay is still saving lives,” said Siema Mohapatra, a professor of health law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “The longer safe and affordable abortion is in these states, the more pregnant people seeking abortion care will be helped.”
In the long run, however, proponents of abortion rights face difficult chances. High courts in many of these states are dominated by conservative or Republican judges, who may be more sympathetic to restrictions on access to abortion.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch conservative, asked the all-Republican-appointed state Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn a judge’s order Tuesday that blocked enforcement of pre-Roe criminal abortion bans.
FLORIDA’S PROHIBITION TO REFUSE
Nuns pray outside a Planned Parenthood location in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., November 12, 2021, as the state considers restrictive abortion laws. REUTERS / Gaelen Morse
Read more
Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in April, was set to take effect Friday. The law reflects the Mississippi law at the heart of the Supreme Court case that reversed Rowe.
Along with Planned Parenthood partners and other abortion providers in Florida, District Court Judge John Cooper concluded that the law violated the privacy guarantees of the state constitution, which the state Supreme Court said cover the right to an abortion.
State law previously restricted abortions after 24 weeks.
Cooper said his decision would not take effect until he signed a written order, which is likely only on Tuesday or later.
A spokesman for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, said the state would appeal. The case could eventually go to the Florida Supreme Court, whose composition has been changed to include all Republican-appointed judges.
Only about one-fifth of state supreme courts have recognized the right to abortion regardless of Roe v. Wade. The Iowa Supreme Court earlier this month reversed itself, finding that the state constitution did not include a “fundamental right” to abortion.
In Kentucky, Jefferson County Judge Mitch Perry sided with two abortion clinics, including a Planned Parenthood affiliate. The clinics challenged the trigger ban and another law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before some people know they are pregnant.
Abortion services have been suspended in Kentucky since Friday when the Supreme Court cleared the way for states to enact new bans. Kentucky’s ban allows abortions only to protect people from death or serious injury.
“I am pleased that the court has acknowledged the devastation that is taking place in Kentucky and decided to block the brutal abortion bans in the British Community,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
However, the decision is temporary and a new hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at the request of the clinics for an order to block the application of the laws.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, immediately asked the appeals court to stay Perry’s order, saying the judge had no basis under the Kentucky constitution to allow the clinics to resume performing abortions.
“We can’t allow the same mistake that happened in Roe against Wade nearly 50 years ago to be made again in Kentucky,” he said.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
Report by Nate Raymond in Boston and Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey; editing by Colleen Jenkins, Jonathan Oatis and Josie Kao
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Nate Raymond
Thomson Reuters
Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. You can contact him at nate.raymond@thomsonreuters.com.
Add Comment