Pregnant Kentucky woman sues state over near-total abortion ban

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A pregnant Kentucky woman who wants an abortion but is unable to get one is suing the state in an effort to reverse its near-total ban on abortions.

The woman, about seven weeks pregnant, is seeking to overturn a pair of state laws that took effect soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022: a six-week ban on abortion, and a trigger law, so named because it immediately banned abortion in nearly all cases once the Supreme Court case was overturned.

Together, the two laws prohibit abortion if there is still detectable fetal cardiac activity, except in cases where the life of the pregnant person is at immediate risk. Neither law includes exceptions for rape, incest or fetal abnormalities incompatible with life.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Jefferson County, gives the woman a pseudonym of Mary Poe.

“I have decided that ending my pregnancy is the best decision for me and for my family,” Poe said in a statement. “I feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I cannot access abortion care here in my own state, and I have started the difficult process of arranging to get care in another state where it’s legal.”

Poe added: “This involves trying to take time off work and securing child care, all of which place an enormous burden on me. This is my personal decision, a decision I believe should be mine alone, not one made by anyone else. I am bringing this case to ensure that other Kentuckians will not have to go through what I am going through, and instead will be able to get the health care they need in our community.”

By denying Poe an abortion, the “government has denied her access to the care she needs,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which is representing Poe, said in a statement.

Poe is also requesting the court certify a class of all pregnant Kentuckians who seek access to abortion, “but cannot obtain that care because of the abortion bans.”

Poe’s case is the third time the commonwealth’s abortion bans have been challenged in court. Abortion providers sued the state in 2022, arguing both laws were unconstitutional because they violated patient’s privacy and right to self-determination.

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the providers lacked appropriate constitutional standing to challenge the full scope of those laws.

Last December, a Kentuckian eight weeks pregnant, anonymously referred to as Jane Doe, became the first pregnant person to sue over the bans. But less than a month later, she had a miscarriage and asked a judge to dismiss her case.

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