ACLU sues Kentucky over new law banning type of abortion procedure used after 11 weeks

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a bill Gov. Matt Bevin recently signed into law that bans a certain type of abortion procedure, which the ACLU calls "safe and medically proven."

The law prevents women from obtaining an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, or D&E, except in cases of medical emergency. It was signed by Bevin on Tuesday and took immediate effect.

The ACLU's federal lawsuit, though, seeks to stop its enforcement while the case proceeds.

"We're suing Kentucky yet again — this time to stop state politicians from banning a safe abortion method," Talcott Camp, deputy director with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, wrote in a news release. "This law disregards a woman's health and decisions in favor of a narrow ideological agenda."

Background: Kentucky lawmakers vote to ban some abortions, despite claim it's unconstitutional

The D&E procedure is generally performed after 11 weeks of pregnancy and accounted for 537 of about 3,300 abortions performed in Kentucky in 2016, according to state statistics.

It involves dilating the cervix and removing the fetus using suction and surgical tools. A fetus is about 2 inches long and weighs almost a third of an ounce at 11 weeks, according to the Mayo Clinic.

In the United States, only 11 percent of abortions occur after the first trimester, but national estimates suggest the D&E method accounts for roughly 95 percent of those later procedures, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Elizabeth Kuhn, a spokeswoman for Bevin, said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the lawsuit, while not surprising, is disturbing.

"Kentucky's elected representatives voted overwhelmingly this session to safeguard unborn children against the gruesome practice of live dismemberment abortion," she wrote. "Few issues should be as commonsense as protecting the most vulnerable among us from the horrific act of being torn from limb to limb while still alive."

In a news release about the lawsuit, the ACLU said the law would force patients to travel hundreds of miles out of state if they need the procedure, which they say is an "insurmountable obstacle" for some women.

The lawsuit adds that women who are unable to surmount the travel burdens "will resort to unsafe self-abortion methods, thereby jeopardizing their lives, their health, and their family's welfare."

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The plaintiffs in the suit are EMW Women's Surgical Center, the sole practicing abortion clinic in Kentucky, as well as two physicians at the clinic. It was filed in the U.S. District Court of Western Kentucky on Tuesday after the group learned Bevin had signed the measure.

Kate Miller, advocacy director for the ACLU of Kentucky, previously said similar laws had been blocked by courts in Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. It's one of 401 abortion restrictions that state lawmakers across the country have enacted since 2011, the ACLU said.

"Kentucky politicians have already shut down all but one abortion clinic in our state," said Michael Aldridge, executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky. "Now they want to invade the exam room and stop doctors from providing safe, quality care. It's shameless, insulting, and dangerous."

Opponents of the bill said it wouldn't withstand a court challenge, even as it moved through both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly last month.

"This bill is going to cost taxpayers a load of money and it's clearly unconstitutional," Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a Louisville Democrat, said at the time.

Bill supporters argued it was necessary to ban a type of abortion some suggested has no place in a civilized society.

"I think sometimes those little babies need someone to speak up for them," said Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, who voted in support of the bill.

Two states — West Virginia and Mississippi — have bans on D&E abortion procedures that are currently in effect. Others have had their laws temporarily halted pending a final court decision or permanently stopped by court order, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.

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