Judge will unseal records of ex-AG's attempt to investigate Louisville abortion providers

FRANKFORT — Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Friday he will make public nearly all of the records in a lawsuit stemming from former Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s attempt in June of 2023 to investigate two University of Louisville physicians who had performed abortions at EMW Women’s Surgical Center.

During a hearing on whether to unseal the case record, Shepherd said he will release an order early next week that will direct that documents in the case be released with the exception of one record filed with his office last year by Cameron. He also said names of the doctors would also remain confidential.

At issue is a sealed lawsuit brought by the doctors and an official of EMW to quash a subpoena issued by Cameron for payroll and personnel records of the doctors. Cameron sought the records in 2023, a year after almost all abortions had been outlawed in Kentucky and the state’s abortion clinics had closed.

A year ago Shepherd ruled in favor of the doctors, quashing the subpoena and ordering that most of the case file be unsealed. But Cameron blocked that order by immediately filing an appeal along with an emergency motion to keep the entire case a secret.

On Aug. 9 a three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Shepherd’s quashing of the subpoena. Its order said the subpoena amounted to a “fishing expedition” and that Cameron’s premise that tax dollars may have been illegally spent on abortions was not supported the facts of the case.

The appeals court ruling did not identify the physicians or U of L or EMW as their employers. Kentucky Lantern, based on information from knowledgeable sources and details in the appeals ruling, reported the case clearly involved the two U of L physicians and EMW, which was confirmed last week in a document filed by the parties in the case.

The case is now over. Current Attorney General Russell Coleman decided not to appeal the appeals court’s ruling.

But the appeals court referred back to Shepherd the matter of whether the file should remain sealed.

Shepherd scheduled Friday’s hearing to give the parties to the case – as well as the public and press – a chance to be heard on the matter. Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media intervened in the case to argue for opening the file.

Near the end of the hearing Shepherd said he would issue an order early next week that largely conforms with the position jointly taken by all parties to the original case (the doctors and the Attorney General) that the file be unsealed except for the names of the doctors and a document filed by the Attorney General last year for Shepherd’s “in camera” review that dealt with the subject of its investigation.

Tom Miller, a Lexington attorney who represented Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media, argued Friday that this one document may be vital and should also be disclosed. “All we’re asking is that the attorney general be required to disclose what it was that they thought they were investigating,” Miller said.

But Shepherd said that other documents that will be released will satisfy that concern. “I think that when you see the rest of the file that all of the questions that you’re identifying are going to be fully answered,” Shepherd said.

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