LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and several other organizations announced they had filed motions to voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit challenging two abortion bans that went into effect after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

What You Need To Know

  • Last June, abortion providers in Kentucky filed a lawsuit challenging an abortion ban and a separate six-week ban they say violate constitutional rights 

  • This year, the Kentucky Supreme Court said abortion providers lacked "standing" or the right to challenge the bans on behalf of their patients

  • The motions to withdraw the case were filed jointly with the ACLU, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky (PPGNHAIK)

  • The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and partners say they are open to hearing from patients who need access to abortion and are interested in possibly being a plaintiff in another lawsuit

The motions were filed jointly with the ACLU, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky (PPGNHAIK).

Saturday will mark one year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After that decision, a near-total ban on abortion went into effect in Kentucky.

Last June, abortion providers sued in Jefferson Circuit Court challenging that ban and a separate six week ban saying they violate constitutional rights.

The judge, in that case, temporarily blocked enforcement of the bans.

A higher court put them back in place.

This year, the Kentucky Supreme Court rejected a request to temporarily block the bans again and sent the case back down to circuit court.

The justices said abortion providers lacked “third-party standing” — or the right to challenge the bans — on behalf of their patients.

Today, abortion providers said they filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit, saying a lot of obstacles stand in the way of a patient joining the litigation.

Angela Cooper, communications director with ACLU of Kentucky, said, “There’s still a massive stigma against abortion and of course, for someone who is in Kentucky and has an unwanted pregnancy and needs to seek an abortion, their first concern is going to be for the health care that they need, so it’s very difficult to imagine asking someone to put a pause on that care to join in a lawsuit. This is clearly a sad day for us. We were really hoping that we would be able to move forward in a different way, but it’s also not the end.”

The ACLU of Kentucky and partners say they are open to hearing from patients who need access to abortion and are interested in possibly being a plaintiff in a lawsuit like this.

Kentucky Right to Life celebrated the move to withdraw as a recognition of the “validity of our ProLife laws.” In a news release, the anti-abortion group declared, “Today, every word of every ProLife law is intact,” and said they would continue in their work to make abortion unthinkable. 

Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) responded to the motions, saying, “My office will always defend and enforce Kentucky’s pro-life laws passed by our General Assembly. We are gratified that the abortion providers recognized their case should be dismissed.” Cameron added he was proud that the “elective abortion industry is out of business in Kentucky.”

Related Stories