Legal fight over Kentucky's ultrasound abortion law could go to US Supreme Court

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- The legal fight over Kentucky's ultrasound informed consent law could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Attorneys for Gov. Matt Bevin filed a brief with the High Court last week asking it to reject the appeal of EMW Women's Surgical Center against House Bill 2 (2017).

The law passed in 2017 calls for an abortion provider to give pregnant women an ultrasound and give them an opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat before terminating a pregnancy.

In April, a U.S. Appeals Court upheld the constitutionality of a law requiring Kentucky abortion providers to give mothers an ultrasound and describe it before a woman chooses an abortion.

The U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit rejected a request in June 2019 by the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville to rehear the case en banc (before the entire bench).

EMW Women's Surgical Center is the only remaining clinic in the state that performs abortions.

The Bevin administration currently has four legal cases ongoing over Kentucky abortion laws including the fetal heartbeat law and an anti-eugenics law, which bars abortions based on the medical condition of a fetus including those with Down Syndrome.

Here is a copy of the brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Download PDF