A pregnant woman in Kentucky who sued the state over its abortion restrictions learned that her embryo no longer has cardiac activity, her attorneys said Tuesday.
The Kentucky woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit last week demanding the right to an abortion and arguing that the state’s near-total ban violates her rights to privacy and self-determination.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which is representing the woman, declined to comment on how her embryo’s state may affect the case, but it indicated that it will continue the challenge.
She was about eight weeks pregnant when the ACLU filed the lawsuit Friday, days after a similar challenge in Texas.
“Jane Doe sought an abortion in Kentucky, and when she could not get one, she bravely came forward to challenge the state’s abortion ban. Although she decided to have an abortion, the government denied her the freedom to control her body.
Countless Kentuckians face the same harm every day as the result of the abortion ban,” Brigitte Amiri, an ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project deputy director, said in a news release.
“Kentuckians like Jane should be able to focus solely on their health and should not have to worry about bringing a lawsuit. … Unfortunately, patient-led challenges like Jane’s are our only path forward to strike down the bans under the right to privacy and right to self-determination,” Amiri added.
The Kentucky attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The Guttmacher Institute, a group that advocates for abortion rights, says Kentucky has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. The state tightened its restrictions soon after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. In February, the Kentucky Supreme Court rejected a request to halt the near-total ban’s enforcement.
The lawsuit challenges two laws in Kentucky: one that allows abortion only in the case of medical emergency or life endangerment, and a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“The bans and the irreparable harms they inflict are an affront to the health and dignity of all Kentuckians,” the lawsuit states. “Everyone who can become pregnant has a right to determine their own future and to make decisions about their relationships and life opportunities without government interference that puts their health and well-being at risk.”
