Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022.
Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022. Reuters / EVELYN HOCKSTEIN

Louisiana abortion clinics can remain in operation after a judge on Thursday barred the state from enforcing abortion bans under laws that were designed to take effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide.

Judge Donald Johnson in Baton Rouge issued a preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing so-called "trigger" laws designed to ban abortions should the Supreme Court ever overturn the 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade ruling, as it did in June.

The ruling came amid a flurry of litigation by abortion rights groups and clinics nationally seeking to halt or stall bans and restrictions from taking effect in mostly Republican-led states following the Supreme Court's decision.

Those states include Louisiana, which like 12 other states adopted "trigger" laws banning abortion upon the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court's issuing its June 24 ruling.

Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, one of Louisiana's three abortion clinics, sued to resume services, arguing the trigger laws were vague, conflicted with each other and violated its state constitutional due process rights.

A New Orleans judge on June 27 temporarily blocked the laws' enforcement, but they went back into effect after a different judge July 8 transferred the case to Baton Rouge.

Johnson then put a temporary hold on the laws' enforcement on July 12 while he considered whether to issue Thursday's preliminary injunction, which remains in effect until a trial can be held on the clinic's request for a permanent order.

"Today's ruling is critical in ensuring that women in Louisiana continue to have access to comprehensive - and sometimes life-saving - healthcare services," Joanna Wright, the clinic's lawyer, said in a statement.

State Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry said he would ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to bring an end to the "legal circus." The state's high court on July 6 decided on a 4-2 vote to let an earlier order blocking the laws stand.