WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that Kentucky’s attorney general Daniel Cameron may continue defending a restriction on abortion rights that had been struck down by lower courts.
The court, by an 8-1 vote Thursday, concluded that Cameron can step in.
The underlying issue in the case is a blocked state law that abortion rights supporters say would have effectively banned a standard abortion method in the second trimester of pregnancy.
But the justices decided the more technical issue of whether Attorney General Cameron can intervene in the case after rulings from a trial court and appellate panel, as well as Gov. Andy Beshear’s decision to drop the case.
Following the Court’s ruling, Attorney General Cameron released this statement:
“At every turn, we’ve maintained that Kentucky’s law banning live-dismemberment abortions is worth defending and should receive a full defense from the challenge brought by the ACLU and an abortion clinic. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. This is a ruling that many in the Commonwealth have hoped for, and we will proudly continue to carry the mantle for this important pro-life law by going back to the Sixth Circuit and litigating the case.
The court’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law. The court found that our office is the fail safe for defending the Commonwealth’s laws when they come under attack. As the court noted, we had a strong interest in stepping in to defend this important law after the Beshear Administration’s ‘secretary for Health and Family Services elected to acquiesce.'
The members of the General Assembly, pro-life advocates, and countless Kentuckians have championed this law at every turn, and we are incredibly grateful for their support. While the legal challenge to this law is not over, we will do what is necessary to defend it.”
This ruling on Kentucky's abortion ban comes only a day after House Bill 3 passed.
View the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling here.
