LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The decision on whether to continue blocking Kentucky’s abortion bans is in the hands of a Jefferson County judge. 

Attorneys for Kentucky’s two abortion clinics and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office submitted written arguments to Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry Monday. 

Earlier this month, Perry heard hours of testimony related to a request to continue putting Kentucky’s abortion bans on hold while a lawsuit goes through the court process.

Attorneys for abortion providers argue that enforcing abortion bans would cause irreparable harm. 

“If abortion is banned in Kentucky, these medical, social, and economic harms will be forced onto the around 3,000 to 4,000 pregnant individuals who seek access to this healthcare in the Commonwealth each year, and their families,” said a filing from the plaintiffs.  

The attorneys also referred to affidavits of recent patients who received abortions, including a mother of two who said she lost 30 pounds from vomiting during a previous pregnancy, a single mother of two who said another baby would force her to quit her job and a single mother of two whose home was destroyed in a tornado. 

The Attorney General’s office filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims, and argues an injunction would harm the Commonwealth. 

“These laws prohibit what the General Assembly has determined is the unjustified taking of unborn human life,” said Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s response to the plaintiffs’ motion for temporary injunction. “So every day that these laws are not enforced is a day in which unborn children of the Commonwealth perish.”

His office argues that abortion is not essential healthcare and, “Nothing in the text of the Kentucky Constitution… provides for a right to abortion.” 

Cameron’s office also filed a motion to dismiss the case.

It’s not clear when the judge will make his decision on the request for a temporary injunction.