Kansas judge won’t give go-ahead for telemedicine abortions

(AP) A state court judge is declining to give a Kansas clinic permission to provide telemedicine abortions.

Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson Monday rejected a request from the Trust Women Foundation to block Kansas from prohibiting telemedicine abortions.

Trust Women operates a Wichita clinic that in October began providing pregnancy-ending medications to patients who conferred with off-site doctors by webcam. But the clinic stopped Dec. 31 because the legal climate was uncertain.

Another Shawnee County judge ruled Dec. 31 in another case that three bans enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature since 2011 can’t be enforced. But Trust Women said state and local officials wouldn’t promise that the abortions would be allowed.

The earlier decision was not binding on Watson when Trust Women filed its own lawsuit in January.