প্রকাশ: 28/06/2022
Battles over
abortion shifted to state courts on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court
overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide, as judges
blocked statewide bans in Louisiana and Utah and clinics in Idaho, Kentucky,
Mississippi and Texas sued seeking similar relief.
The six are among the 13 states with "trigger
laws" designed to ban or severely restrict abortions once the Supreme
Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognized a right to
the procedure, as it did on Friday.
In Louisiana, abortion services that had been halted since
Friday began resuming after Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin
Giarrusso on Monday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the
state from carrying out its ban.
The order came shortly after Hope Medical Group for Women in
Shreveport - one of Louisiana's three abortion clinics - sued, arguing
Louisiana's trigger laws "lack constitutionally required safeguards to
prevent arbitrary enforcement."
Later on Monday in Utah, 3rd District Court Judge Andrew
Stone, at the request of a Planned Parenthood affiliate, issued a temporary
restraining order that would allow abortion services to resume in the state
after a 2020 ban took effect on Friday.
"Today is a win, but it is only the first step in what
will undoubtedly be a long and difficult fight," Karrie Galloway,
president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a
statement.
Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said his
office was "fully prepared to defend these laws in our state courts, just
as we have in our federal courts." Republican Utah Attorney General Sean
Reyes did not respond to requests for comment.
The rulings came as a flurry of lawsuits were filed
nationally challenging Republican-backed abortion laws under state
constitutions after Friday's ruling by the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme
Court.
In Republican-led Texas, where a ban on abortions after six
weeks of pregnancy went into effect last year, a judge in Harris County will
hear arguments on Tuesday on whether to block officials from enforcing pre-Roe
v Wade abortion prohibitions.
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton had said in a Friday
advisory that while the state's 2021 trigger ban would not take effect for 30
days after the Supreme Court's ruling, prosecutors could immediately pursue
cases based on pre-1973 laws.
In Idaho, a Planned Parenthood affiliate asked the state's
highest court to block enforcement of a "trigger" law banning
abortion that the Republican-controlled state legislature passed in 2020 due to
take effect August 19.
Similar lawsuits were filed by abortion providers asking
state courts to block enforcement of "trigger" bans in Kentucky and
Mississippi.
"To be clear, there is no right to abortion contained
in the Commonwealth's Constitution - and we will stand up against any baseless
claim to the contrary," Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a
statement.
Abortion rights advocates plan to challenge an Ohio ban on
abortions after six weeks that took effect on Friday, and in Florida, a group
of abortion providers went before a judge on Monday to argue a challenge to
that state's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In states where federal court orders were blocking abortion
restrictions based on the Roe precedent, those orders are now being lifted.
South Carolina's ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected is now in
effect, Attorney General Alan Wilson said on Monday, after a federal judge put
on hold an injunction that had prevented its implementation.
- Reuters
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