SW News: Abortion-rights groups filed a court motion to dismiss their lawsuit against Kentucky's near-total abortion ban but hinted that the legal fight is far from over.

The groups' strategy will focus on the upcoming court claims that are expected to come from pregnant women who were denied abortion services in Kentucky.

Kentucky state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Tamarra Wieder said in a statement that their group will be back in court when they have a patient plaintiff.

Attorneys filed the present suit for the only two abortion clinics left in Kentucky when the state's ban on the procedure took effect following the reversal of Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022.

In a February decision that concentrated on specific legal concerns, the Kentucky Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs in the Kentucky lawsuit their request to have access to abortions restored. Larger constitutional issues, such as whether access to abortion should be made lawful in the Bluegrass State, were left unresolved by the judges.

The state's high court concluded that abortion providers lacked the "third-party standing" to challenge the ban on the grounds that it infringed on patients' constitutional rights. The justices sent the case back to a Louisville circuit court.

A referendum proposal that would have removed all constitutional safeguards for abortion was defeated by Kentucky voters last year, giving the abortion rights movement a victory.

Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office has expressed support for the bans. Cameron said on Tuesday that his office will steadfastly defend the state's anti-abortion laws.

“We are gratified that the abortion providers recognized their case should be dismissed. As a result of our efforts, I am proud to say that the elective abortion industry is out of business in Kentucky,” Cameron said in a statement.

“Nothing in this opinion shall be construed to prevent an appropriate party from filing suit at a later date,” wrote Deputy Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert.