LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky's two abortion providers are now able to resume procedures after a federal judge blocked the state's new abortion law.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings issued the ruling Thursday. According to the documents, Jennings granted a restraining order to the two providers, Planned Parenthood and EMW Women's Surgical Center.
The two Louisville clinics had gone to court immediately after the law took effect, asking that the measure be put on hold while the case is litigated. Thursday’s decision was a victory for abortion rights advocates and a setback for the Republican-led legislature, which passed the law in March and then overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of the measure last week.
Nowhere in the 72-page bill did it specifically say abortions are outright banned in Kentucky, but the providers said the restrictions included in the law made it so they were unable to perform any procedures.
RELATED: Kentucky abortion law could change after SCOTUS ruling on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban
The provisions consist of an outright ban on all abortions after 15 weeks, a prohibition on telehealth appointments for people who want to get the abortion pill and several new reporting requirements. Those requirements include reporting the age of the patient and how the fetal remains were disposed of.
Providers said in order to comply with the new law, new programs need to be set up by the state.
Beshear, who vetoed the bill initially, said the funding doesn't exist to create those new programs.
The new law also requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to create a new form to track surgical abortions, medical abortions and possibly stillbirths and miscarriages.
Kentucky is among the GOP-led states that have passed restrictive abortion laws in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that established a right to abortion nationwide nearly 50 years ago.
Pending before the high court is a challenge to a law passed in a fifth state, Mississippi, that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The court has indicated that it will allow Mississippi’s ban to stand and conservative justices have suggested they support overruling Roe.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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