Courts prevented conservative states from enforcing the ban as abortion rights groups pushed for the bans after Roe’s fall.
US judges have temporarily blocked abortion bans in Florida and Kentucky following a US Supreme Court ruling that removed constitutional protections for abortion rights last week.
Circuit Court Judge John Cooper on Thursday approved a petition from Florida abortion rights groups to frozen State law prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In Kentucky, Judge Mitch Perry issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from enforcing an automatic “activation restraining order” that went into effect after Roe v WadeThe 1973 decision protecting the constitutional right to abortion was repealed last Friday.
With Roe’s reversal, abortion rights groups quickly went to court to contest the Republican’s attempt to scale up. restrict abortion nationwide. These curbs are currently in effect or expected to be in 22 states.
State courts in Texas, Louisiana, and Utah also have bans are blocked in those states since last week. Abortion providers are pushing for similar steps in Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi and West Virginia.
In April, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, Signed 15 weeks ban abortion. It was set to go into effect on Friday.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe, focusing on a Mississippi law similar to the Florida restrictions, DeSantis said the decision “answered the prayers” of millions of Americans. About 37 percent A recent poll showed that people in the US supported the decision to oust Roe.
But Judge Cooper said on Thursday that Florida had failed to provide “convincing and credible evidence” that the law “represents a compelling interest in the state to be protected.”
Planned Parenthood and some Florida abortion clinic argued that the Florida state constitution guarantees women the right to an abortion until 24 weeks pregnant.
In one statement Following Cooper’s ruling, Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the decision offers a “glint of hope” for abortion rights, adding that the ruling “can’t come at a time. more important”.
Cooper agreed that the law violated the state constitution and pointed to an earlier ruling by Florida’s highest court that found the right for abortion contained in the state constitution is broader than the federal equivalent.
The decision will take effect after Cooper signs a written order that he has yet to execute.
Republicans are likely to appeal the decision, possibly to the Florida Supreme Court, which currently includes only Republican-appointed judges.
Kentucky was one of 13 states to have an outlaw abortion “ban” after Roe was deposed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights advocacy group.
State abortion ban no exception for rape or incest. It has limited medical exceptions that allow abortions only to prevent death or serious, permanent disability.
Two abortion clinics have disputed the ban, along with another law banning abortions after six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant.
The state’s decision to withhold the activation ban is temporary, and another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on the request on the injunction against the two laws.
The state’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron criticized the decision.
Cameron said in a statement that after a “historic victory of a lifetime,” the Kentucky judge had “no basis in the Kentucky Constitution, allowing two clinics to continue abortion“.
Cameron promised to “continue to defend this law and ensure that fetal life is protected”.
When asked if the attorney general was confident that the ruling would be overturned, a Cameron spokesman instructed Al Jazeera on his statement and said they “have no further comment at this time.” “.
