State high court lets near-total abortion ban continue

Abortion access in Kentucky remained virtually shut off Thursday after the state's highest court refused to halt a near-total ban that has largely been in place since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Kentucky's Supreme Court, which was weighing challenges to the state's near-total ban and a separate one that outlaws abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, sent the case back to a lower court for further consideration of constitutional issues related to the more restrictive ban.

The court weighed in on the issue after Kentucky voters last year rejected a ballot measure that would have denied any constitutional protections for abortion. The justices heard arguments in the case a week after the November midterm elections, and activists on both sides had anxiously awaited the ruling. The state's Republican-led Legislature passed both of those laws.

The justices ruled on narrow legal issues Thursday. They left unanswered the larger constitutional questions about whether access to abortion should be legal in the Bluegrass State.

“To be clear, this opinion does not in any way determine whether the Kentucky Constitution protects or does not protect the right to receive an abortion, as no appropriate party to raise that issue is before us,” Deputy Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert wrote.

Abortion rights groups responded that the fight is far from over.

“Even after Kentuckians overwhelmingly voted against an anti-abortion ballot measure, abortion remains banned in the state,” Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed in today's decision.”

Kentucky's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, called the ruling a “significant victory.”