Judge to decide fate of US state's only abortion clinic

CHICAGO: A US judge will decide the fate of Kentucky's only abortion clinic in a case that opened Wednesday and has nationwide implications for how America regulates the socially–divisive procedure.
The EMW Women's Surgical Center, located in the state's largest city Louisville, is suing the southern state for placing what it claims are unreasonably onerous safety requirements that threaten its ability to operate.
If the clinic fails in its lawsuit and is forced to close, it would make Kentucky the only state in the nation without a single dedicated abortion clinic.
"In that regard, that would be somewhat historic," Rusty Thomas, a religious leader and head of the anti–abortion group Operation Save America, told AFP.
The lawsuit is the first to test a US Supreme Court ruling that last year gave abortion clinics added protections — prohibiting regulations that subject them to an "undue burden." The high court struck down a Texas law similar to Kentucky's.
The judge hearing EMW's case issued a temporary restraining order earlier this year to prevent the shutdown of the clinic.
"Plaintiffs have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits (of their case)," US District Judge Greg Stivers said in his written order.
'Under assault'
The lawsuit centers around the question of whether it is reasonable for the government of Kentucky to demand an abortion provider be connected to a hospital in case of emergency.
EMW says it already has emergency plans in place to transport patients to a hospital in case of a rare complication, and the state's hospital requirement is an attempt to shut it down.
"We are under assault," said Ernest Marshall, the doctor who operates the clinic, in prepared remarks to the news media. "The very right to access legal abortion in the state of Kentucky is on the line."
Marshall's suspicions are rooted in the hostility to abortion displayed at the highest levels of Kentucky's government. As the three–day trial commenced, the state's governor Matt Bevin defended the regulations, telling radio station WKYX that he was "not a proponent of killing unborn children."
Still, the state maintains the clinic's claims are overblown, that regulators are seeking to safeguard patient safety — not shutter the clinic — and that even if it were to close, women would still have access to abortions.
"Kentucky law permits licensed hospitals to perform abortions without being separately licensed as an abortion facility. Kentucky women would also have access to abortions at nearby facilities in contiguous states," the state's lawyers argued in a written filing.
The legal tussle comes as states across the country increasingly try to broaden abortion restrictions — with hundreds of new laws enacted in just the last six years, according to the pro–abortion research group Guttmacher Institute.
"We are in the midst of a real political hostility towards abortion at the state level," the institute's Elizabeth Nash told AFP.
As conservative Republicans have won more seats in state legislatures across the US, efforts to restrict abortions have accelerated.
"There has been a real polarization on abortion," Nash said.
Meanwhile, the number of abortion clinics has diminished to the point that seven states — including Kentucky — have only one each, according to the institute's tally.
"In 37 years providing abortion, I've seen more than a dozen clinics close down in our state," Marshall said. —APF