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On September 28, 2018, a federal district court struck down the Kentucky law requiring transfer and transport agreements that, if enforced, would have effectively banned abortion in the Commonwealth by forcing the last abortion clinic to close. The court’s decision followed a three-day trial in September 2017, during which experts and abortion providers testified to the devastating impact of shutting down Kentucky’s last abortion clinic. This decision kept open the doors of the only health center in Kentucky that provides safe and legal abortion care, EMW Women’s Surgical Center. The decision also paved the way for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) to expand access to safe, legal abortion in Kentucky.

On April 29, 2019, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court decision holding that the plaintiffs could seek extensions of time to comply with the requirements, and remanded the case for further consideration, where the case is still pending.

The law that Kentucky used to attempt to shut down the clinic is very similar to Texas laws that the Supreme Court struck down in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016. In that case, the Court held that requiring business arrangements with a hospital served no medical purpose and instead posed real harm to women.