Federal appellate court agrees with district judge in striking down KY abortion law
A federal appeals court upheld a ruling Tuesday that struck down a 2018 Kentucky law banning physicians from using a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies.
U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. ruled in May 2019 that that the law would create a “substantial obstacle” to a woman’s right to an abortion, violating constitutionally protected privacy rights.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati agreed Tuesday in a 47-page ruling, saying the law known as House Bill 454 “imposes an undue burden on not just a large fraction, but all of the individuals it restricts.”
The appellate court, in a 2-1 ruling, said it affirmed the district court’s decision to grant a permanent injunction to block the law.
The 2018 law signed by former Gov. Matt Bevin banned an abortion procedure known as “dilation and evacuation.” The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016, according to state statistics.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who defended the state law, said, “We’re disappointed with the court’s ruling and will take any steps necessary to continue defending the law, which protects the unborn from a gruesome procedure.”
The ACLU of Kentucky applauded the ruling.
“As the court recognized today, Kentucky’s law had no medical basis, and would have harmed patients seeking safe, constitutionally protected medical care,” said Andrew Beck, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “The state has no business dictating what care physicians can give their patients or banning certain procedures just to advance an anti-abortion agenda.”
Heather Gatnarek, staff attorney with the state ACLU, said two courts now “have made it resoundingly clear that D&E abortion care is safe, and Kentuckians have a right to access this care.”
“Our clients are relieved they will be guided by medicine, not politicians, when providing D&E care to their patients,” Gatnarek said.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers represented EMW Women’s Surgical Center in the case and two physicians who work at EMW.
The state ACLU said the Kentucky law is one of 483 abortion restrictions that have been passed since 2011 “as part of a nationwide strategy to push abortion care out of reach.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 7:01 PM.
