Kentucky’s Near-Total Abortion Ban Put on Hold by State Court

Kentucky may not enforce two laws banning abortion pending further review of a complaint alleging they violate the state’s constitution, a state court said Thursday.

Abortion providers challenged the laws in a suit filed June 27 in the Kentucky Circuit Court, Jefferson County.

It’s one of several cases asserting that state constitutions provide greater protection for abortion rights than the federal constitution that have been filed in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The first Kentucky measure being challenged is a trigger law—so named because its effective date was “triggered” ...