A woman in Kentucky, whose name was changed to protect her privacy, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to bring back the right to an abortion in the state, which has a very strict ban on the process right now. The lawsuit, which was filed in a state court in Louisville, says that Kentucky's strict abortion rules violate the constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of choice. It asks the Jefferson County Circuit Court to throw out the state rules that make it hard to get an abortion.
Poe said she wanted to end her pregnancy when she was about seven weeks along, but she made it clear that she couldn't legally do so in Kentucky. The case, which has the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, stresses how personal and essential it is to make choices about pregnancy. The filing says, "Kentuckians have lost the right to make important decisions about their health, bodies, lives, and futures without being able to choose whether to continue a pregnancy."
In a statement, Poe talked about how upset she is about the problems she is having. She said, "I feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I can't get abortion care here in my state. I've already started the hard process of making plans to get care in another state where it's legal." She said that the process has a lot of problems, like finding childcare and taking time off work.
Russell Coleman, the Republican attorney general of Kentucky, is named as a defendant in the case.