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Kentucky Court of Appeals removes temporary injunction blocking the state’s Human Life Protection Act and Heartbeat law from going into effect

Aug 2, 2022

By Dave Andrusko

On Monday Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Larry E. Thompson reinstituted both the state’s comprehensive Human Life Protection Act and its Heartbeat Law which bans abortions at the point the unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected.

Judge Thompson sided with Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Cameron had asked that a temporary injunction ordered by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry, who had sided with abortion providers be overturned.

“Today the Court of Appeals granted our motion to have the Kentucky Human Life Protection Act and the Heartbeat Law reinstated in the Commonwealth,” Cameron said. “I appreciate the court’s decision to allow Kentucky’s pro-life laws to take effect while we continue to vigorously defend the constitutionality of these important protections for women and unborn children across the Commonwealth.”

In his ruling, Perry reasoned there “was a ‘substantial likelihood’ that the bans were unconstitutional in Kentucky and blocked the abortion restrictions from taking effect until a final decision on their constitutionality could be made by state courts,” according to Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post. “Perry sided with two abortion clinics that said the bans were unconstitutional because they went against the rights to privacy and self-determination enshrined in the state constitution.”

However Thompson “overruled Perry, on grounds that allowing abortions to proceed — even temporarily — is unfair because the procedures would be irreversible, should state courts later rule the abortion restrictions to be constitutional,” Jeong added. “The Court emphasizes, however, that it expresses no opinion whatsoever as to the merits of the underlying dispute.”

Last week Cameron filed a 56-page filing petitioning Judge Thompson for emergency relief. He said Judge Perry’s decision blocking the state’s abortion ban was “egregiously wrong.” 

“Less than a month after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, a single circuit judge has created the Kentucky version of Roe v. Wade,” Cameron wrote.The court below enjoined enforcement of two duly enacted statutes after finding that there is a substantial likelihood that the Kentucky Constitution contains a right to obtain an abortion. Just like Roe, that conclusion does not rest on any text in the Constitution. Nor does it rely on any history within the Commonwealth.”

Attorney General Cameron said, “We will soon find out if Kentucky courts will adhere to the text and original meaning of our state Constitution, or if they are intent on repeating the mistake of the failed Roe v. Wade decision.”

Addia Wuchner, RN, Executive Director of Kentucky Right to Life, said “Kentucky  Right to Life salutes Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his team for their perseverance and legal acumen in defending the laws of the Commonwealth and our Kentucky Constitution.”

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