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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Supreme Court of the United States on Monday left in place a Kentucky law requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds and show fetal images to patients before abortions. The decision comes as a ruling is expected from the high court on a more restrictive Indiana abortion ultrasound law that was struck down last year.
The justices did not comment in refusing to review an appeals court ruling that upheld the Kentucky law.
The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law on behalf of Kentucky’s lone remaining abortion clinic. The ACLU argued that “display and describe” ultrasound laws violate physicians’ speech rights under the First Amendment.
The federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the Kentucky law, but its sister court in Richmond, Virginia, struck down a similar measure in North Carolina.
Also before the court is an Indiana abortion ultrasound law. Justices have yet to rule on a petition filed by the state of Indiana seeking to overturn an injunction against a 2016 law that would require a woman receive an ultrasound at least 18 hours before an abortion. A panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down that law in July 2018. https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/47676-th-circuit-strikes-down-indiana-abortion-ultrasound-law
The case, Kristina Box, Commissioner, Indiana Department of Health, et al., Petitioners v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., 18-1019, has been distributed for conference before the justices multiple times since May of the court’s last term, the last time being Oct. 18, according to the case docket.
Doctors’ speech also has been an issue in non-abortion cases. The federal appeals court in Atlanta struck down parts of a 2011 Florida law that sought to prohibit doctors from talking about gun safety with their patients. Under the law, doctors faced fines and the possible loss of their medical licenses for discussing guns with patients.
In Kentucky, doctors must describe the ultrasound in detail while the pregnant woman listens to the fetal heartbeat. Women can avert their eyes and cover their ears to avoid hearing the description or the fetal heartbeat. Doctors failing to comply face fines and can be referred to the state’s medical licensing board.
The law was passed in 2017 and was signed by the state’s anti-abortion governor, Republican Matt Bevin. He narrowly lost his reelection bid last month. But Republicans remain in control of the state legislature.
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