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In a victory for abortion rights advocates, a federal judge overturned a Kentucky law that threatened to close the last abortion clinic when Governor Matt Bevin's administration cited it in a licensing dispute with the installation.
US District Judge Greg Stivers, in a long-awaited ruling, said on Friday that the two-decade-old law violates constitutionally protected fair trial rights. The law required Kentucky 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 carefully examined the evidence presented in this case and concluded that the record contained no credible evidence that the disputed regulations have a tangible benefit to women's health," Stivers wrote in a 60-page decision. "On the other hand, the regulation effectively eliminates women's rights to abortion in the state.Therefore, the disputed regulations are unconstitutional."
The decision was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which joined the legal battle committed on behalf of the Louisville Abortion Clinic. A spokeswoman for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said the decision would be appealed.
In a statement, ACLU lawyer Brigitte Amiri said: "The court's decision recognized the Kentucky law for what it is: an attack on women packed into a false justification and pushed by politicians who have been transparent in their attempt to ban the state of Kentucky abortion "
Governor spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said the Bevin administration was hopeful to back down on appeal. The Republican governor is a determined opponent of abortion.
"We are disappointed that the court is overturning legislation that protects the health and well-being of Kentucky women," Kuhn said.
The EMW Women's Surgery Center, the state's latest abortion clinic, has challenged state law. The case involved a licensing battle that began when Bevin's administration claimed that the clinic did not have appropriate transfer agreements and had taken steps to make it to cease.
The clinic responded with federal court action to prevent the state from revoking its license, arguing that it would violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.
A trial on the trial took place a year ago. Planned Parenthood, of Indiana and Kentucky, joined the lawsuit, claiming that the Bevin administration had used the transfer agreements to block his license application to perform abortions in Louisville.
Stivers said that despite the "best efforts" of EMW and Planned Parenthood, no hospital in Louisville is willing to participate in a transfer agreement. As a result, it is impossible for them to comply with the requirements of the transfer agreements, he said.
State lawyers have argued that the transfer agreements do not place a significant burden on the right of women to obtain an abortion. They said the law was needed to ensure that female victims of abortions were properly transferred to hospitals.
State attorneys had also noted the availability of abortion facilities in neighboring states, even featuring charts illustrating the distance that separated several Kentucky cities from abortion clinics to those in the United States. from other states.
Stivers said the availability of out-of-state clinics has not "cured the infirmities" of Kentucky law.
"The defendants' assertion that they can trample the rights of Kentucky women because these rights could be exercised in other states is unfounded," the judge wrote.
In his decision, Stivers also evoked the testimony of one of the founders of the clinic, according to which he had never killed a patient following an abortion and that the number of admissions to the The hospital compared to an abortion was about 1 in 2,000. The judge noted that when complications occur, they usually occur long after the women have left an abortion center.
"Therefore, the existence or absence of transfer or transportation agreements between abortion clinics and hospitals or ambulance services has not impact on the vast majority of rare post-abortion complications, "Stivers wrote.
Dr. Ernest Marshall, who opened the clinic several decades ago, said the decision meant the facility would remain open.
"The patients who come through our doors have already faced many obstacles," he said. "I am happy to see that despite these challenges, they will always see our doors open with this victory."
The case was the last setback for the enemies of abortion in a bitter legal dispute between the ACLU and the Bevin administration.
Last year, another federal judge overturned a Kentucky law requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds and present fetal images to patients before an abortion. The Bevin administration appealed and a federal court of appeal heard the legal arguments of the case in July.
In the meantime, a new Kentucky law to ban a common procedure for second-trimester abortions is temporarily suspended pending a trial later this year after the challenge to the measure. The law would prohibit a procedure called "dilation and evacuation". It seeks to prohibit these procedures performed 11 weeks after fertilization.
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