Judge strikes down Kentucky law in win for abortion clinic

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press
Updated 6:09 pm CDT, Friday, September 28, 2018

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In a victory for abortion-rights supporters, a federal judge struck down a Kentucky law that had put the state's last abortion clinic at risk of closing when Gov. Matt Bevin's administration cited it in a licensing fight with the facility.

U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers, in a long-awaited ruling, said Friday that the two-decade-old law violates constitutionally protected due process rights. The law required Kentucky's abortion clinics to have written agreements with a hospital and an ambulance service in case of medical emergencies.

Stivers said the so-called transfer agreements "do not advance a legitimate interest" in promoting the health of women seeking abortions.

"The court has carefully reviewed the evidence presented in this case and concludes that the record is devoid of any credible proof that the challenged regulations have any tangible benefit to women's health," Stivers wrote in his 60-page ruling. "On the other hand, the regulations effectively eliminate women's rights to abortions in the state. Therefore, the challenged regulations are unconstitutional."

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Judge-strikes-down-Kentucky-law-in-win-for-13266911.php

[McCamy Taylor]

1. What ambulance would refuse to pick up an emergency patient

and what hospital would turn one away? It would be illegal.

[soryang]

2. "two-decade-old law"

wow

[riversedge]

3. conservatives site there concern for women and will appeal.....

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/409069-judge-strikes-down-kentucky-law-restricting-last-abortion-clinic-in


damn, their hypocracy make me sick!





....The clinic’s founders argued in court that a patient has never died of an abortion, maintaining that complications usually arise after the patient has left a facility.

Stivers noted that only about 1 in 2,000 abortion patients are admitted into the hospital.

"Therefore, the existence or absence of transfer or transport agreements between abortion clinics and hospitals or ambulance services has no impact on the vast majority of the rare post-abortion complications," Stivers wrote.

The EMW Women’s Surgical Center was reportedly at risk of closing when Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration cited the regulation during its battle with the abortion clinic over licensing, the AP noted.
...............................

Bevin’s office told the AP that it would appeal the decision, citing the governor's strong views against abortion.

"We are disappointed that the court would strike down a statute that protects the health and well-being of Kentucky women," Bevin's spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn told the outlet.

[Bayard]

4. Score one for Kentucky women!