A Louisiana judge extended the block on the state’s abortion ban until a hearing on July 29, while Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) is threatening to delay funding for New Orleans until officials have affirmed it will enforce the law.
Judge Donald R. Johnson of the state’s 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge made the temporary restraining order extension Tuesday. The extension means abortion can continue in Louisiana at least through July 29, according to the order, which said “the temporary restraining order expires upon this Court’s decision on the trial of petitioners’ Application for Preliminary Injunction, or at the end of 10 days from its date,” according to court records.
The order is to “be maintained in full force and effect, directed to defendants, Jeff Landry, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Louisiana, and Courtney N. Phillips, in her official capacity as Secretary of Louisiana Department of Health.”
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Louisiana is one of 13 states with existing “trigger laws” that went into effect after the Supreme Court reversed 50 years of precedent established under Roe v. Wade following a June 24 opinion release. Abortion providers challenging said laws argue they are vague and contain conflicting language.
In response to the block on the state law, Landry announced Tuesday that he tapped the state treasurer and Bond Commission members to delay applications and funding for New Orleans until officials comply with the ban on abortion procedures.
The attorney general accused New Orleans officials of “open defiance of the will of the people of Louisiana” and said the Bond Commission should act to suspend requests temporarily that “directly benefit” the city.
A state judge in Baton Rouge delivered an order last Tuesday that blocked enforcement of the ban while attorneys for a north Louisiana clinic and other abortion advocates had their cases play out in court. The lawsuit was initially filed in a New Orleans court but was shifted after a judge said it should be heard in the state’s capital.
Meanwhile, the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization prompted the clinic at the core of the monumental case to end its lawsuits Tuesday, which sought to block Mississippi from enforcing a law that bans most abortions.
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“If the clinic is not in a position to reopen in Mississippi, it no longer has a basis to pursue this case in the courts,” Rob McDuff, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney who was among those representing the clinic, said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The clinic facility’s owner, Diane Derzis, said she sold the facility and has no intentions of reopening it even if a state court allowed her to do so in the future.
