UPDATE | 5-24-23

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an opinion remanding the appeal for HB3 to the US Western District Court in Kentucky, recommending that the District Court vacate its injunction orders.

---

From the Desk of Addia Wuchner, RN, Executive Director KRTL & The RTL Education Foundation of Kentucky

Today is day 280 since August 1, 2022— the last day abortion facilities in Kentucky were open. In fact, it is nine months, seven days past August 1, 2022! June 24, 2022, the day Roe v. Wade was oveturned, was 317 days ago.

Think about it ProLife Friends, and join us as we thank Heaven… Mothers scheduled for abortions on August 2, 2022 – by now those babies would be born and taken their first breath.

Of course, we know woman may elect to travel out of state to have an abortion, but how many babies know life? How many precious lives have been saved since August 2, 2022?

But Kentucky Right to Life, the Attorney General of Kentucky and our KRTL legal team are still in the Courts defending Kentucky laws and defending LIFE.

Following is an update on the three ProLife matters pending in the Courts.

1. HB 3 - United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Cincinnati
2. Kentucky Trigger Law - Louisville Circuit Court, Division 3
3. Buffer Zone - U.S. Western District Court, Louisville

1 First date in court - June 15, 2023, 9 AM, Cincinnati Court of Appeals

HB3, the ‘omnibus pro-life bill’ Humanity in Healthcare Act that became law in 2022, will be further litigated. Aspects of its requirements have been challenged by plaintiffs EMW and Planned Parenthood. Please watch for more news about this upcoming hearing. Pray for pro-life law to be upheld and protected. For background on this litigation, see this article list.

2 Next date in court - June 28, 2023, Time TBA, Judge Perry Louisville Circuit Court

We’ll call this one the “KSC (Kentucky Supreme Court) case.”

Briefly, the case was on appeal from Judge Mitch Perry, to ask the KSC to overrule the KY Appeals Court decision to ‘stay’ his order to reopen the abortion clinics. A sizable list of articles about this litigation is on this Forum for anyone who wants to follow the timeline.

A Status hearing to follow up on the February 16 (2023) KSC 150-page ruling was held in Judge Perry’s Jefferson Circuit Court on Monday, April 24th. The KSC ruling stated that the abortion clinics did not have standing to bring their case:

After thorough review, we hold that the abortion providers lack third-party standing to challenge the statutes on behalf of their patients. Notwithstanding, the abortion providers have first-party, constitutional standing to challenge one of the statutes on their own behalf. We affirm the Court of Appeals’ holding that the circuit court abused its discretion by granting the abortion providers’ motion for a temporary injunction and remand to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

During the Status hearing, the plaintiffs reported that they had not been able to find a woman willing to represent their lawsuit, as one who would have standing before the KSC.

The Federal standard for standing that had been adopted by the KSC in 2018, states: “for a party to sue in Kentucky, the initiating party must have the requisite constitutional standing to do so, defined by three requirements: (1) injury, (2) causation, (3) redressability. In other words, [a] plaintiff must allege personal injury fairly traceable to the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief.”

The defendant (appellant) for this appeal, was Daniel Cameron in his capacity as Attorney General. The appellees were the EMW Clinic, their owner Ernest Marshall, MD, on behalf of his patients, and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, on behalf of itself, its staff and its patients.

The ‘injury’ was the closing of the abortion clinics as legislated by Ky’s ‘trigger law’— the Human Life Protection Act to close the clinics if/when Roe was overturned— enacted in 2019 and enforced. Read here.

The KSC ruled that the appellees could not plead on behalf of their patients because the clinics were not, by legal definition, injured.

The appellant attorney arguing for Cameron, Christopher Thacker, objected to adding a plaintiff —a potential patient of the clinics. He insisted the only issue before the Court was to decide whether to uphold the ‘trigger law.’ Judge Perry agreed with Mr. Thacker and the AG's position.

Judge Perry extended the proceedings, setting a new Status hearing on Wednesday, June 28, to establish the outcome.

It is important for all Right to Lifers to pray about his court case.

In the proceedings before the Kentucky Supreme Court, only one justice, Robert Conley, concurred with Justice Lambert’s opinion which is the ‘holding’ for the case.

The Chief Justice, Laurance VanMeter, concurred in result only. This means that though he agreed with the final result of the holding, he did not agree with the conclusions used to reach it or perhaps with some points of the decision.

Justice Angela Bisig, new on the KSC this year, concurred in part and dissented in part by separate opinion in which Justice Michelle Keller joined. Keller concurred in part and dissented in part by separate opinion in which Bisig joined. (Two peas in a pod.)

Justice Christopher Nickell and new Justice, Kelly Thompson, concurred in part and dissented in part in separate opinions.

So, as we see, the upcoming June 28 hearing in the Circuit Court may take advantage of these dissents to pry open fresh litigation.

Pro-life Jefferson Countians may be rightly disappointed that Bisig, the 4th District KSC representative, is NOT pro-life.

3 Waiting on court date - Stalled - U.S. Western District Court, Louisville

The third matter still in the courts is the Louisville Buffer Zone case. Background on this is found here. The Cincinnati Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the pro-life plaintiffs, KRTL and Sisters for Life. We heard from many KRTL members and friends who appreciated our involvement in objecting to the Metro Louisville Council’s ordinance mandating a ‘buffer’ zone of 10 feet around the EMS to prevent sidewalk counseling.

Our fine attorney Chris Wiest is asking Judge Rebecca Jennings to permanently enjoin the ordinance so that the case will have an official end, upholding free speech. The EMW Clinic claims that it is now a moot issue since no sidewalk counseling is taking place due to the closure of the clinic.

Lights are on in the abortion clinics. Physical abortions are not being performed, but calls are fielded, and there is not yet a definitive end to abortion in Kentucky until the court cases are closed.

Please watch the KRLA Forum for news and comment.

From the desk of Addia Wuchner, RN, Executive Director

"For Kentucky Right to Life, chapters and pro-life Kentuckians, today's 4-3 ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court is another historic moment. It's a moment to rejoice. We're extremely grateful for Attorney General Cameron and his entire team and the stellar work that they've done defending the laws of Kentucky.

"Abortion facilities have been closed for over 198 days and they remain closed. Lives will continue to be saved. But we clearly understand that… the battle is far from over. We will continue to work, pray, and advocate to protect the lives of unborn children and to work with their moms to make abortion unthinkable.

"With the overturning of Roe, the matter of abortion was appropriately returned to the States. We are now experiencing how democracy should work.

"The Justices are to precisely rule on matters of legislation so they can consider these issues in constitutional rather than political terms. The Courts are granted the great power of judicial review, the power to uphold or strike down laws passed by federal or state legislatures, on the grounds that they violate the basic principles of the Constitution.

"Today we celebrate, we have turned the page; this chapter has a happy ending. But this book on life is far from over."

by Addia Wuchner, RN, Executive Director, KRTL

“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.”

“My body! My choice!”

“Nobody should be able to tell us what we can and cannot do.”

“Nobody should be able to take our rights away from us.”

“Bans off our bodies”

All of these quotes were found on webpages with content pushing a woman to think of herself as a tower of strength without regard for common female values. The webpages or videos are associated with Planned Parenthood, a corporation that makes A LOT of money from performing abortions. Would anyone consider that a 'conflict of interest'?

The idea that a woman ought to have complete autonomy over her own body is a mantra for unicorns.

We are reminded of Abby Johnson’s testimony during the 2019 Ky Legislature Senate hearing for the 'Heartbeat' Bill. Abby is a former Planned Parenthood clinic director, who testified for the bill sponsor, Sen. Matt Castlen. She said A LOT, even: “Abortion is not normal; taking the life of your own flesh and blood who has your own DNA is not normal. And there are healing resources available.” You can hear her entire testimony here.

Read thousands (or as many as time permits) of aborted women’s testimonies here.

Expectant females must insist on the right to be free of heavy-handed, discouraging rhetoric that pushes them to deny any role to men from people who will never encourage them to give birth or to love their child or to place the child for adoption.

None of us lives for herself alone. People need each other. Thousands of couples wish to adopt.

Stop and think, ladies. Why not rather say, “Bans Off Our Hearts!”

MEDIA STATEMENT provided by Addia Wuchner, RN, Executive Director, KRTL | 7-22-22

Today, July 22, 2022, Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry issued a ruling to continue blocking the Humanity in Healthcare Act of 2022 and the ‘Heartbeat Law’ of 2019. Abortions in Kentucky continue to be performed, despite the overturn of Roe and the “Trigger Law” passed in 2019 in a bipartisan vote. That law ended abortion in Kentucky when or if Roe was overturned, with the exception of the health risk and medical condition of the mother.

Let me be direct, Kentucky’s battle for the human rights of the child is in the courts because Planned Parenthood, ACLU and EMW seek to have a Kentucky judge and our courts undermine the laws of the Commonwealth.

We find today’s decision by Judge Perry an exercise in raw judicial power on behalf of the abortion industry.

What is most disturbing is that Judge Perry wrote in his opinion, “the court finds any harm the defendants may suffer is outweighed by the interests of the plaintiffs,” which effectively means he believes that the abortion providers’ interest outweighs the life of a human child.

Kentucky’s laws to push back the aggression of the Roe decision, reflect the values of Kentuckians that honor the humanity of both the woman and her child. For over 100 years, the laws of the Commonwealth have upheld the intrinsic dignity of each and every life, defined in our Constitution as beginning at conception.

As prolife advocates, today’s ruling only confirms our mission this November to pass Constitutional Amendment 2, ‘Yes for Life,’ so that no politician, president, legislator or judge can invent the right to abortion based on political ideologies or interpretations of our constitution or the influence of any extremist multimillion dollar industry representing their own interests.