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Judge In KY Blocks Anti-Abortion Trigger Laws. [1]

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Date: 2022-07-23

Not a lawyer, but I thought I would share this bit of news about the fight over abortion rights in KY.

Abortions in Kentucky still legal after judge blocks state laws while case goes through court

Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry has issued an injunction blocking enforcement of two state laws that together ban almost all abortions in Kentucky, which means abortions will remain available in the commonwealth while a legal challenge proceeds in his court. In a 20-page opinion and order Friday, Perry systematically rejected arguments on behalf of the state's "trigger law" automatically banning abortion once the Supreme Court struck it down as a federal right, as well as a second law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Finding significant state constitutional questions about the two laws, he ordered them blocked until the dispute is resolved at trial. A trial date has not been set.

This case has a ways to go in Kentucky courts. But the gist is that the last abortion providers in the state of Kentucky took the anti-abortion trigger laws to court. Past Kentucky Supreme Courts have ruled that abortion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Kentucky State Constitution. On the side of the anti-abortion forces is State Attorney General Daniel Cameron — a protegee of Senator Mitch McConnell. And Cameron wants to be the next governor of Kentucky, so he rides every “culture war” issue in hopes of reaching the governor’s mansion.

Here is some of what Judge Perry has to say upon the matter of abortion rights in KY:

But his strongest words involved the fact that women bear the greatest impact of the law, noting that under the two laws, organ donors have more rights than do pregnant people. “When a person dies, their organs can be utilized only if they consent to being an organ donor,” Perry’s opinion said. By contrast, under the abortion laws, women have few rights, an apparent violation of equal protection. “Only in the context of pregnancy is a woman’s bodily autonomy taken away from her,” Perry’s opinion said. “This is a burden that falls directly, and only, on females. It is inescapable therefore, that these laws discriminate on the basis of sex.” Further, he said, defenders of the law “have proffered no legitimate reason why the woman must bear all the burdens of these laws while the man carries none.”

Emphasis is mine.

I’m sure the anti-abortion crowd will scream that is the whole point. Women are the ones who get pregnant, so there has to be SOME discrimination to save the life of a fetus! If those sluts — err — women get pregnant, it’s their own damn fault! They should bear the consequences!

Never mind that women had to have help from a man to get pregnant in the first place.

You can read the rest of the multiple legal reasons why Judge Perry decided to stay the trigger laws for yourselves. It appears that he has used multiple amendments in the Kentucky State Constitution to come to the conclusion that women have a right to an abortion in Kentucky. As for what the anti-choice crowd in KY think about this decision, I give you the following:

Addia Wuchner, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life, blasted the decision in a news release Friday. "We find today’s decision by Judge Perry an exercise in raw judicial power on behalf of theabortion industry," Wuchner said.

Nothing like a little projection there from Kentucky “Right to Life.”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/23/2112074/-Judge-In-KY-Blocks-Anti-Abortion-Trigger-Laws

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