Kentucky abortion law triggered by Supreme Court decision blocked by judge

Abortions have resumed in Kentucky after a judge blocked enforcement of the state’s near-total ban on abortion that was triggered by the end of Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in an opinion last week, setting off abortion “trigger laws” in more than a dozen states across the country. Kentucky is one of the latest states to have its law temporarily blocked.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law on behalf of abortion providers, arguing that the law unconstitutionally forced women to “remain pregnant against their will.”

The judge agreed to temporarily block enforcement of both the trigger law and a separate Kentucky law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The court will hold a hearing in July to make a ruling on the lawsuit.

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Kentucky’s trigger law bans all abortions aside from those performed to save the mother’s life or prevent her serious injury. 

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“We will do everything possible to continue defending this law and to ensure that unborn life is protected in the Commonwealth,” Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, said in a statement.

Kentucky is the third state to have its abortion trigger law temporarily blocked. Pro-abortion activists have filed a slew of lawsuits seeking to stop, or more often delay, enforcement of the bans.

Judges in both Texas and Louisiana have blocked trigger laws and will hold hearings in July to decide on the lawsuits.

In addition to Texas and Louisiana, ten states have abortion bans on the books that took effect after Roe fell.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.