JAKARTA - The battle over abortion rights shifted to state courts on Monday, after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to procedure nationwide, when judges blocked statewide bans in Louisiana and Utah and clinics in Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas sued. looking for similar help.
The six were among 13 states with 'trigger statutes' designed to prohibit or severely restrict abortion after the Supreme Court overturned a landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade acknowledged the right to the procedure on Friday last week.
In Louisiana, abortion services that had been suspended since Friday resumed, after Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin Giarrusso on Monday issued a temporary suspension order preventing the state from implementing its ban.
The order comes shortly after Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, one of Louisiana's three abortion clinics, was sued on the grounds that Louisiana's triggering statute "does not have the necessary protections, constitutionally, to prevent arbitrary enforcement."
Then on Monday in Utah, 3rd District Court Judge Andrew Stone, at the request of Planned Parenthood affiliate, issued a temporary suspension order that would have allowed abortion services to resume in the state, after the 2020 ban went into effect on Friday.
"Today was a victory, but this is only the first step in what will no doubt be a long and difficult battle," Karrie Galloway, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry said his office was "fully prepared to defend this law in state court, just as we have in our federal court." Republic of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes did not respond to requests for comment.
The ruling comes as a series of lawsuits are filed nationwide, challenging Republican-backed abortion laws under the state's constitution, following Friday's ruling by the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court.
As for Republican-led Texas, where a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect last year, a judge in Harris County will hear arguments Tuesday about whether to block officials from enforcing the pre-Roe v. Wade.
Earlier, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an advisory Friday that while the state's 2021 ban would not take effect 30 days after the Supreme Court's decision, prosecutors could immediately pursue cases under the pre-1973 statute.
In Idaho, the Planned Parenthood affiliate asked the state's highest court to block enforcement of a 'trigger' law banning abortion passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2020 due to take effect Aug. 19.
A similar lawsuit was filed by abortion providers asking state courts to block enforcement of the "trigger" ban in Kentucky and Mississippi.
"To be clear, no right to abortion is contained in the Commonwealth Constitution, and we will challenge any unfounded claims to the contrary," Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a statement.
Separately, abortion rights advocates plan to challenge Ohio's abortion ban after six weeks that went into effect Friday, and in Florida, a group of abortion providers faced a judge Monday to challenge the state's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. .
In states where a federal court order blocked abortion restrictions under Roe's precedent, that order is now revoked. A ban on abortion in South Carolina after a fetal heartbeat is detected is now in effect, Attorney General Alan Wilson said Monday, after a federal judge suspended an order that had prevented its implementation.
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