Planned Parenthood drops challenge to Kentucky abortion ban

December 18, 2023

Dec 18 – Lawyers at Planned Parenthood and other groups said Monday that they had dropped a class action lawsuit challenging Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban, after the named plaintiff lost standing to bring the case because she was no longer pregnant.

Lawyers at Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they had filed a notice in Kentucky state court on Sunday ending the case. They had announced last week that their client, Jane Doe, learned her embryo did not have cardiac activity days after the lawsuit was filed.

Kentucky’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that abortion providers cannot bring challenges to abortion bans on behalf of their patients, rejecting an earlier lawsuit brought by providers. Doe’s lawsuit, filed earlier this month, sought to get around that obstacle by having a pregnant woman sue on behalf of a class.

“We encourage others in Kentucky who are currently pregnant and seeking an abortion to reach out to us if they are interested in bringing a case,” Planned Parenthood and the ACLU said Monday.

The office of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York August 31, 2015. REUTERS

Doe’s lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, challenged two laws: one banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, around six weeks and before many women know they are pregnant, and a ban on abortion at any time.

Both laws contain only narrow exceptions to save the mother’s life or prevent severe injury to the mother. They do not have exceptions for rape, incest or for fatal fetal anomalies.

The lawsuit was one of few brought by pregnant women, rather than providers. Another such case, by a Dallas-Fort Worth woman seeking an emergency abortion of a non-viable pregnancy, was rejected last week by the Texas Supreme Court, which is still considering another, similar case brought by 22 patients and doctors.

Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Lisa Shumaker