The Kentucky Supreme Court Thursday ruled to keep two statewide abortion restrictions in place. Both restrictions went into effect when the US Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, and found that there is no federal constitutional right to abortion, in June 2022.

The decision addressed two statutes: KRS 311.722 (the trigger ban) and KRS 311.7707-11 (the heartbeat ban), both of which prohibit termination of pregnancy after about six weeks, when fetal cardiac activity is typically first detected. The statutes both include exceptions for cases in which the life of the mother is at risk but do not provide exceptions for rape or incest.

The case was first brought forth by abortion providers EMW Women’s Surgical Center, Dr. Ernest Marshall and Planned Parenthood Louisville. The plaintiffs filed for an injunction, stating that the ban violates their patients’ constitutional right to due process. The injunction was initially granted by the Jefferson Circuit Court but ultimately dissolved in the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court found that the abortion providers did not have appropriate third-party standing to claim relief on the rights and interests of their third-party patients. It also found that the Jefferson Circuit Court abused its discretion when it granted the injunction.

The court did, however, find that the abortion providers had first-party standing to challenge the constitutionality of the trigger ban, and sent the issue back to the Jefferson Circuit Court to determined the providers’ claims as to the constitutionality of the trigger ban.