A federal judge has halted the impending shutdown of the only clinic in Kentucky that performs abortions.
U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers issued a restraining order Friday that prevents Kentucky officials from revoking the license of the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville. The state has told the center it is out of compliance with state laws related to its agreements with a local hospital and ambulance service.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit this week to halt the shutdown. Two other abortion sites in Kentucky, an EMW clinic in Lexington and a Planned Parenthood in Louisville, stopped performing abortions last year.
Stivers said in his ruling that the clinic demonstrated its patients "would be immediately and irreparably harmed" without the court's order. It expires in two weeks.
