{"id":198543,"date":"2019-03-18T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T15:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=198543"},"modified":"2019-03-17T22:07:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T03:07:34","slug":"judge-halts-kentucky-heartbeat-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-halts-kentucky-heartbeat-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge halts Kentucky pro-life heartbeat bill within hours of signing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Less than 24 hours after the Kentucky House passed Senate Bill 9<\/a>\u00a0(SB9), the\u00a0fetal heartbeat bill<\/a>, with a vote of 71 to 19, a federal judge has issued a temporary order prohibiting the state from enforcing its new law. The move comes on the heels of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the constitutionality of the bill.<\/p>\n

SB9 prohibits most abortions<\/a> in the state once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks into the pregnancy. The bill overwhelmingly passed the Kentucky Senate in February, by a vote of 31 to 6. Following the House’s approval on Thursday evening, Governor Matt Bevin signed it into law yesterday. The law immediately went into effect, thanks to the addition of an emergency clause.<\/p>\n

The ACLU wasted no time in challenging the law, calling it “unconstitutional,” since many women may not know that they are pregnant by six weeks. In addition, the ACLU is\u00a0also challenging House Bill 5<\/a>\u00a0(HB5). That bill prohibits abortion based on the baby’s race, gender, or disability. It too passed the House on Thursday evening,\u00a0but was still awaiting the governor’s signature.<\/p>\n