
Court battles prompted by the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling reversing abortion rights played out in multiple states Monday, with a judge in West Virginia blocking that state’s 150-year-old abortion ban and one in Louisiana leaving an order against enforcement of that state’s ban in place, for now.
In another Monday development, the Supreme Court issued an order that put Indiana a step closer to being able to enforce a parental notification law involving girls who get abortions before they turn 18.
In West Virginia, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Tera L. Salango granted the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia a preliminary injunction against the 1800s-era ban, saying that in the absence of action by the court, the clinic and its patients, “especially those who are impregnated as a result of a rape or incest, are suffering irreparable harm.”
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey decried the ruling, calling it “a dark day for West Virginia.” He said his office will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.