O’Melveny Challenges Kentucky’s Abortion Bans

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, O’Melveny has been working to protect reproductive freedoms of women around the country, focusing on rights guaranteed in states’ constitutions and statutes.

In Kentucky, O’Melveny partnered with the ACLU and local Planned Parenthood affiliates to challenge two of Kentucky’s most restrictive abortion laws: the “heartbeat” trigger ban and the six-week ban. An evidentiary hearing was held on the preliminary injunction and the trial judge entered a sweeping temporary injunction against the abortion bans, holding: “The fundamental right of a woman to control her own body from government interference outweighs a state interest in potential fetal life before viability…. By ordaining that life begins at the very moment of fertilization the General Assembly has adopted the religious tenets of specific sects or denominations…. Under our institutions there is no room for that inquisitorial and protective spirit which seeks to regulate the conduct of men.”

The AG had a successful interlocutory appeal to Kentucky’s court of appeals, but the Kentucky Supreme Court held oral argument and a decision is pending.