By Jack Brammer
NKyTribune reporter
A Jefferson Circuit Court judge is weighing whether to extend access to abortion in Kentucky.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron and the state’s two abortion facilities met Judge Mitch Perry’s Monday deadline of filing their pleadings on how he should rule.
Cameron is asking the court to deny a request by the facilities for a temporary injunction that would allow abortions while their lawsuit against an abortion trigger law is adjudicated.
The 2019 trigger law automatically eliminated access to most abortions in Kentucky following the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. The 1973 decision that said abortion was a constitutional right. Kentucky’s trigger law does allow a physician to perform the procedure if it is deemed necessary to prevent the death or permanent injury of the mother.
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Kentucky, representing EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville, along with Planned Parenthood, filed suit against the state’s trigger law soon after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In June, Judge Perry issued a temporary restraining order against the trigger law, allowing abortions to resume in Kentucky at EMW and Planned Parenthood. Cameron appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the Kentucky Supreme Court but lost.
The case continues in Jefferson Circuit Court, and Monday’s pleadings were the latest court action. Judge Perry could issue a ruling on the temporary injunction request at any time.
The abortion providers claim that the laws violate a state constitutional right to abortion.
Cameron, a Republican who wants to unseat Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in next year’s race for governor, said Monday the trigger law reflects “Kentucky’s commitment to protecting unborn life, a commitment that I share and will continue to advocate for by defending these important laws.
“Every day that these laws are prohibited from taking effect, elective abortions will continue and more unborn lives will be lost. We’re asking the court to reinstate the laws while the litigation continues.”
In his filings, Cameron said, “The nature of the immediate and irreparable harm here is especially pernicious. The non-enforcement of even ordinary statutes amounts to irreparable harm. The non-enforcement of the Human Life Protection Act and Heartbeat Law amounts to something far more grave.
“These laws prohibit what the General Assembly has determined is the unjustified taking of unborn human life. So every day that these laws are not enforced is a day in which unborn children of the Commonwealth perish.”
Cameron also filed a motion Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court to dismiss the case, arguing that the abortion facilities and that the Kentucky Constitution leaves decisions about abortions to the state legislature.