LEXINGTON, Ky. — A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a far-reaching abortion law in Kentucky roughly a week after it was passed by Republican lawmakers.
“The Court restrains enforcement of the entirety of HB 3 at this time, as it lacks information to specifically determine which individual provisions and subsections are capable of compliance,” District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings wrote in a 21-page ruling Thursday afternoon. Planned Parenthood’s “motion for a temporary restraining order is granted.”
The temporary restraining order means health care providers at the state’s only two abortion facilities in Louisville can resume offering the procedure. Both were forced to stop providing abortions on April 14, once the law took effect.
The Republican-led General Assembly eight days ago overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of the bill and passed it into law. The bill contained an emergency clause and took effect immediately.
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky sought emergency relief from the new law the next day by filing two lawsuits petitioning a federal judge to block House Bill 3 from taking effect.
When asking the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky to intervene, Planned Parenthood called the bill “tantamount to a ban on abortion” and said it instituted “unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with, given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers to stop offering abortion services.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, asked the court on Tuesday not to grant Planned Parenthood’s request.
Cameron said Planned Parenthood is challenging the law “on grounds that (providers) cannot comply with administrative forms and regulations that the Cabinet has not yet created,” but he said that interpretation of the new law is “wrong.”
“Once the Cabinet has created those forms in compliance with House Bill 3, then Planned Parenthood’s obligation to utilize those forms kicks in,” he wrote. “The bill in no way shuts that business down or orders it to cease operations.”
But Judge Jennings disagreed.
“The plain language of HB 3 is clear that the entire law became effective and enforceable on April 13, 2022 ... including the enforcement and penalties provisions,” she wrote, adding that it’s “unreasonable for (abortion providers) to assume HB 3 does not mean what it states.”
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest CEO Rebecca Gibron said her organization was “grateful” the temporary restraining order was granted.
“This is a win, but it is only the first step,” she said. “We’re prepared to fight for our patients’ right to basic health in court and continue doing everything in our power to ensure abortion access is permanently secured in Kentucky.”
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