Abortions stop at Kentucky clinics after Supreme Court rules

FILE - The outside of Louisville's Planned Parenthood is shown on April 14, 2022.  A judge cleared the way Thursday, June 30,  for abortions to resume in Kentucky, temporarily blocking the state’s near-total ban on the procedure that was triggered by the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, File)

FILE - The outside of Louisville’s Planned Parenthood is shown on April 14, 2022. A judge cleared the way Thursday, June 30, for abortions to resume in Kentucky, temporarily blocking the state’s near-total ban on the procedure that was triggered by the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, File)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s so-called trigger laws means abortion has largely been outlawed in the state upon the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday.

The state’s only two abortion clinics, both in Louisville, halted abortions Friday. The Kentucky law passed in 2019 declares that abortion would become illegal “effective immediately” if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The measure contains a narrow exception allowing a physician to perform a procedure necessary to prevent the death or permanent injury of a pregnant woman.

Kentucky’s governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, said Friday’s Supreme Court ruling “triggers an extremist Kentucky law that creates a total ban in Kentucky that will eliminate all options for victims of rape or incest.”

The state’s attorney general, Republican Daniel Cameron, a candidate for governor, hailed the ruling as “a new era.”

“No longer will unelected judges make abortion policy for the Commonwealth. Instead, our elected representatives will be able to make public policy that reflects the values of Kentuckians and our deeply held respect for unborn life,” Cameron said in a release Friday.

Nicole Erwin, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, said Friday the Louisville center’s doors remain open for all other reproductive health care.

Erwin said the organization would “work with patients every step of the way,” including financial resources and arranging out-of-state travel for those in need of abortion services.