Kansas Telemedicine Abortions Decision

A Kansas judge has ruled that the state cannot stop telemedicine abortions.

The ruling Monday from District Judge Franklin Theis allows a Wichita clinic to continue giving patients abortion pills when it does not have a doctor on site. It also allows the clinic to provide the pills to women in rural areas.

The judge ruled that a law barring telemedicine abortions set to take effect in January has no legal force because of how it was written. He declared that other parts of state abortion laws banning telemedicine abortions are on hold indefinitely while they are being challenged in court.

An abortion rights group filed a lawsuit challenging the 2018 law on behalf of Trust Women Wichita. Its clinic began offering telemedicine abortions in October.