Federal judge strikes down Kentucky abortion law

A federal judge on Friday struck down a Kentucky abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies. The state’s anti-abortion governor immediately vowed to appeal.

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. ruled that the 2018 law would create a “substantial obstacle” to a woman’s right to an abortion, violating constitutionally protected privacy rights.

Kentucky’s only abortion clinic challenged the law right after it was signed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. A consent order had suspended its enforcement pending the outcome of last year’s trial in which Bevin’s legal team and ACLU attorneys argued the case.

The law takes aim at an abortion procedure known as “dilation and evacuation.” The procedure was used in 537 of 3,312 abortions in Kentucky in 2016, according to state statistics.

McKinley wrote that standard D&E procedures account for virtually all second-trimester abortions in Kentucky. The law would “unduly burden” women seeking the procedure, he said.

More