Judges in Louisiana and Utah temporarily halted abortion restrictions in their states on Monday following a US Supreme Court ruling last week that ended the national right to the procedure.
High Court on Friday Reverse Roe v. Wadewhich gave women the constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years. More than a dozen states instituted so-called trigger laws, which in Roe v. Wade to ban or severely limit abortion with immediate effect in the event of a reversal.
a louisiana The judge issued a temporary stay on Monday Order against the state from enforcing the ban on abortion, to restart the process immediately.
Orléans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin Giaruso granted a request from the Plaintiffs Hope Medical Group for Women and Medical Students for Choice.
Hours later on Monday, Utah Third District Judge Andrew Stone made the state’s triggered law-enable abortion ban effective immediately under a 14-day temporary restraining order requested by Utah’s Planned Parenthood Union.
“There is irreparable damage that has been shown,” Stone said in ordering. “Affected women are denied safe, local medical treatment to terminate the pregnancies.”
Planned Parenthood attorney Julie Murray argued that because patients had access to abortions for five decades, stopping the procedure with such little notice had implications for Utah women.
More than 55 patients were scheduled for abortion appointments this week at nonprofit facilities in Utah, the organization said Saturday in its emergency request for a temporary restraining order.
Utah Solicitor General Tyler Green argued that there is nothing in the Constitution of Utah that specifically protects the right to abortion, and that the interest of the unborn weighs as heavily as that of patients who are under prohibition. Harm.
“In our view, it is at least a draw,” he told the court.
Stone seemed to favor Planned Parenthood not only at the pitfalls, but on the underlying argument that the procedure is a personal, medical issue.
Murray said Planned Parenthood’s attorneys were working on a request for a preliminary injunction that, if successful, would make abortion legally available in the state after the temporary restraining order expires.
Trigger laws were also being challenged in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas.
Providers in Louisiana stopped performing abortions on Friday after reproductive rights groups were unsure about the legality of the practice because of the bill’s ambiguity.
“The Louisiana court made the right call today to stop this unjust ban from taking effect,” according to a statement from Jenny Ma, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs.
“This is incredibly welcome news during a very dark time in our history. It means that patients in Louisiana will still be able to access essential health care – every second that abortion is accessible. While the fight is not over We will do everything in our power to preserve abortion access in Louisiana and across the country.”
Attorney General Jeff Landry said Monday that his office would go to court in support of the state’s abortion ban “enacted by the people” of Louisiana.
“We stand as fully prepared to defend these laws in our state courts as we do in our federal courts,” Landry said in a statement.
In a statement on Friday, Gov. John Bayley Edwards declared that he is “darkly pro-life and opposes abortion,” but is calling for changes to Louisiana’s trigger law — first enacted in 2006 — because it includes no charges for rape and incest. is not an exception.
Edwards said on Friday, “As I have said many times before, I believe that women who have survived rape or incest should be able to determine whether to continue with the pregnancy, which the result of a criminal act.”