Supreme Court rejects AG Daniel Cameron's emergency appeal to block abortions in Kentucky
The state Supreme Court has rejected Attorney General Daniel Cameron's emergency effort to try to stop abortion services in Kentucky, five days after a court order allowed them to resume.
In a two-paragraph order released Tuesday night, Chief Justice John D. Minton said, without elaboration, that Cameron's request was denied.
Earlier Tuesday, lawyers for Kentucky's two abortion providers said in a court filing Cameron had no basis for pursuing his appeal.
Minton's order follows a similar order issued Saturday by a state Court of Appeals judge.
In an order issued Saturday, appeals court Judge Glenn Acree denied Cameron's appeal of a temporary restraining order issued Thursday by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry.
That means abortions may continue for now while a legal challenge to a state law banning almost all abortions in Kentucky continues before Perry.
Cameron had argued that Perry erred in allowing abortions to resume in Kentucky and sought to have the restraining order blocked by the appeals court.
Lawyers for Kentucky's two abortion providers filed a response Friday, arguing procedural rules and case law bar lifting Perry's restraining order.
More in KY politics: Biden backs anti-abortion Republican for Kentucky judgeship in apparent McConnell deal
Cameron said in a brief statement Saturday he was "disappointed" with the appeals court decision, and on Sunday filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
“There is no more important issue than protecting life, and we are urging the state’s highest court to consider our request for emergency relief,” he said in a prepared statement.
A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which represents EMW Women's Surgical Center, one of the abortion providers, praised Saturday's appeals court ruling as correct.
"We're glad to see the Court of Appeals agrees the lower court has taken proper emergency action to protect abortion access," Samuel Crankshaw said. "This win is temporary, but we won't back down in the fight to defend Kentuckians' most basic rights from extremist politicians like Daniel Cameron."
Meanwhile, Perry has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on whether to grant an injunction, which would continue to block the law while the case proceeds.
The higher court rulings come in the midst of a dispute over the state's "trigger law" which effectively ended abortions in Kentucky after the Supreme Court on June 24 struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case declaring abortion a federal constitutional right.
That forced the state's only two abortion providers, EMW and Planned Parenthood, to immediately suspend abortion services. EMW said it had to turn some patients away who had arrived at the clinic for abortions and cancel appointments of others.
Abortion rights advocates then turned to state court, arguing in a lawsuit that the Kentucky Constitution confers the right to abortion as a matter of privacy. They sought a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the law,
Kentucky is one of about a dozen states where challenges are underway to try to restore abortion access under state laws and constitutions.
EMW and Planned Parenthood were able to resume abortion services Friday under Perry's order.
Related: Will Louisville employers help workers get access to abortion? Here's what they're saying
Thursday, Cameron filed a petition with the appeals court, asking it to bar enforcement of the restraining order against the trigger law and a second law that bans abortions after about six weeks. Perry's order applied to both laws.
"There is no conceivable basis for restraining enforcement of these two abortion laws," stated the appeal filed by Cameron's office.
Cameron's appeal argued court action could take weeks — "weeks in which Kentucky's duly enacted laws cannot be enforced and weeks in which the lives of unborn children will be lost forever."
Acree, in his order, said he was "acutely aware of and sensitive to the substantive issue at stake — what Roe termed 'potential life' and its termination by abortion."
However, he said he did not find grounds to rule in Cameron's favor and overturn the restraining order.
Acree did consider the disputed matter of whether the "trigger law" banning abortion in Kentucky became instantly effective once the Supreme Court issued its June 24 decision striking down Roe.
The 2019 trigger law calls for it to become effective immediately upon such a decision,
However, lawyers for EMW and Planned Parenthood have argued Supreme Court orders are not considered to be in effect for 25 days after a certified copy of the decision is released.
But they said both clinics temporarily suspended abortions as a precaution because the law calls for prosecution of any physicians who violate it with a felony offense.
Cameron said in a June 24 advisory that the trigger law "became effective on June 24, 2022, the date on which the Supreme Court issued its decision."
Acree, in his order, said that 17 days remain before the trigger law becomes effective July 19 under Supreme Court rules.
Cameron also had requested the appeals court to review Perry's order through what he filed as a "writ of mandamus," alleging legal error by Perry, Acree said.
Acree said in his order the matter will be assigned to a three-member appeals court panel to review once the 17 days have expired before the trigger law becomes effective.
Reach Deborah Yetter at dyetter@courier-journal.com. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/subscribe. -
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Supreme Court denies AG Daniel Cameron effort to block KY abortion
