Kentucky's Last Abortion Clinic Sues

In what feels like a repeat of last year's legal battle over Kentucky's fetal heartbeat and abortion procedure laws (and its ultrasound law the year before), the state's last abortion clinic has filed a federal lawsuit looking to block a new bill that makes abortion illegal if motivated by a diagnosis or potential for disability, or the sex, race, color, or national origin of the embryo or fetus.

The suit also comes while the American Civil Liberties Union is battling another fetal Kentucky heartbeat law, and you can read it below.

Personal Decision, Public Litigation

According to EMW Women's Surgical Center ("the sole licensed abortion facility located in Kentucky"), the law "strips a woman of her right to have an abortion if the Commonwealth disapproves of her reason for seeking the care" by "prying into the reasons for the woman's decision and taking away her right to make the ultimate decision whether to continue her pregnancy." The lawsuit also claims the Supreme Court has been fairly clear on this subject:

The Act is unconstitutional because it bans abortion, under certain circumstances, prior to viability. Plaintiffs challenge the Act because it undermines their mission to honor and support the decisions their patients make, whether it is to continue or to end a pregnancy based on their own personal circumstances and what is best for themselves and their families. Yet, in violation of more than four decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence, the Act wrests this personal decision from a woman and her family and deprives her of the ability to make this personal decision.

Because the statute contains an "emergency" clause causing it to go into effect upon the governor's signature, the clinic is asking for an immediate temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. You can read the lawsuit in full right here:

Kentucky Abortion Clinic by FindLaw on Scribd