Lawyers for a woman in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit seeking the right to terminate her pregnancy have decided to retract the lawsuit after discovering that her embryo no longer has a beating heart.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky stated in a court document on Sunday that they will voluntarily drop the lawsuit that was filed on December 8.

The woman’s lawyers referenced a ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court which stated that abortion providers are not allowed to file lawsuits on behalf of their clients, restricting legal action to only those seeking an abortion. The lawsuit had aimed to become a class-action case.

The ACLU of Kentucky stated on Monday that the court’s ruling has required individuals from Kentucky who want an abortion to file a lawsuit while also trying to obtain time-sensitive medical care, which is a challenging task and should not be necessary to assert their basic right to make decisions about their own bodies. The lawyers also mentioned that they will keep searching for potential plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, titled Jane Doe, et al. v. Daniel Cameron, et al., represents an unnamed woman who was approximately eight weeks pregnant. Recently, within days of the case being filed, attorneys notified that the embryo does not have any heart activity.

After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, there has been a surge of women seeking court approval for abortions. In Kentucky, a pregnant woman named Kate Cox faced a situation similar to that of a woman in Texas who challenged a strict abortion ban due to her life-threatening condition. This marks a significant development in the ongoing legal battles surrounding abortion laws.

Although Cox is thought to be the initial individual to make this request, her legal representatives and other professionals expect there to be more obstacles in the many other Republican-led states where abortion is mostly banned throughout all stages of pregnancy.

In 2019, the General Assembly of Kentucky, which is mostly controlled by Republicans, approved a trigger law that would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. This law prohibits abortions unless they are necessary to save the patient’s life or prevent serious injury. However, it does not make exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

In the previous year, Kentucky voters opposed a proposal that aimed to eliminate constitutional safeguards for abortion. However, advocates for abortion rights have not been successful in convincing lawmakers to weaken the state’s anti-abortion legislation.