Pregnant woman in Kentucky sues for the right to get an abortion
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A pregnant woman in Kentucky filed a lawsuit Friday demanding the right to an abortion, the second legal challenge in days to sweeping abortion bans that have taken hold in more than a dozen U.S. states since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.
The lawsuit, filed in state court in Louisville, says Kentucky's near-total ban on abortion violates the plaintiff's right to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution.
The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, is about eight weeks pregnant and she wants to get an abortion in Kentucky but cannot legally do so because of the state's ban, the lawsuit said. She is seeking class action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion.
“This is my decision – not the government's or anyone else's,” the prosecutor said in a news release issued Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups supporting her challenge. “I am filing this lawsuit because I firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make their own decisions about their pregnancy.”
Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office said it is investigating the lawsuit but provided no further comment. Cameron's office has defended the state's anti-abortion laws in other legal proceedings.
On Thursday, a judge in Texas allowed a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis to undergo an abortion. The temporary restraining order prevents Texas from enforcing the state's ban on the woman, who is 20 weeks pregnant and lasts for 14 days. Her lawyers then spoke cautiously about any broader ramifications, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton emphasized that the order would not shield doctors from civil and criminal liability in the state.
In February, Kentucky's state Supreme Court declined to strike down the state's near-total abortion ban and a new ban on abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. The justices focused on narrow legal issues but did not resolve larger constitutional questions about whether access to abortion should be legal in the Bluegrass State.
The ACLU, Planned Parenthood and other activists launched a new attack on these bans in the lawsuit filed Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Louisville.
“These bans have harmed countless Kentuckians since they went into effect last year, and we are relieved to be back in court to try to restore access to abortion in Kentucky,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, in the press release. .
According to the lawsuit, Kentucky women are suffering “medical, constitutional and irreparable harm” by being denied the right to an abortion.
“Abortion is a critical part of reproductive health care and critical to Kentuckians' ability to control their lives,” the lawsuit said.
“Whether to assume the health risks and responsibilities of pregnancy and parenthood is a personal decision with consequences that should be left to the individual to decide for themselves, without government intervention,” it added.
Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure last year that would have denied any constitutional protections for abortion, but abortion rights supporters have not violated the state's anti-abortion laws.
The legal challenge centers on Kentucky's near-total ban on the law and a separate six-week ban — both passed by the state's Republican Party-dominated Legislature. The trigger law was passed in 2019 and went into effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned. It bans abortions except when performed to save the patient's life or prevent disabling injury. No exceptions are included for cases of rape or incest.