A quick review of bogged-down cases:

1. On Oct. 30, AG Daniel Cameron requested SCOTUS to review the Dismemberment Abortion law which the Appeals Court overturned last June. This law passed the Ky legislature in April of 2018. In Nebraska, a law prohibiting D&E abortion on live unborn babies went into effect last month. This means that 14 states have passed such legislation, but only four have enacted their law: Nebraska, Miss., W. Va. and Ohio. Why not Ky? Think positive and pray.
2. On Nov. 20, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the EMW, along with attorneys from Calif., Washington D.C., New York, and Louisville (total 13 attorneys), filed a document in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to request an En Banc hearing of the Transfer Agreements case which the Appeals Court panel upheld on October 16. The TA law passed the Ky Legislature in July of 1998. It had been ignored before Bevin took office.
3. In the spring of 2019 Ky’s Heartbeat and No Discrimination laws passed and were quickly challenged and combined in a legal maneuver by the ACLU. Last spring Western District Judge Hale stated he would wait to hear the Appeals Court verdict on an Ohio law, Preterm-Cleveland v. Himes, which would ban abortion on Down Syndrome babies, before deciding the case. However, a Tenn. law similar to Ky’s Heartbeat/No Discrimination laws was partially upheld by the Appeals Court on Nov. 20, to ban abortions based on Down Syndrome or race. This action could affect Judge Hale’s decision. The Appeals panel did not uphold the entire Tenn. law. Ky AG Daniel Cameron led an 18-state coalition in an Amicus brief, asking the Appeals Court to uphold the entire law.

Some existing laws are also in a state of suspension. Ky’s law to require that women be made aware of the Abortion Pill Reversal method by her abortion doctor, which passed in spring 2019, is not currently enforced since a woman can order abortion pills online with only an online medical consultation. See Ruling here. It’s likely that not many women know this, or abortion statistics for the EMW would be lower. This national ruling also overrides, we assume, Ky’s law against TelMed, WebCam or “telehealth” abortions.

Ky law also requires that a physician certify that an abortion is necessary, and this doctor must also describe the basis for his/her best clinical judgment. Numerous articles state that most abortions are done for social or economic reasons.

Though ‘clinical’ once referred to medical treatment, it now only means that a person has been observed in a clinic setting.

Laws may be suspended when their criteria are blurred or prevented by societal change. Such change engenders legal challenges to good laws.

Let’s continue to insist on the rule of law and work hard for pro-life goals.