Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that would give unborn children the right to collect child support, reflecting a broader effort in some Republican-led states to push legislation that would give unborn children the same rights as humans. submitted.
The measure would allow parents to seek child support up to a year after giving birth to cover pregnancy costs. The bill was approved by the Senate Families and Children Committee and sent to the full Senate. This was the first vote on the bill, which was introduced in mid-January and referred to committee more than a month ago. Republicans hold supermajorities in the Kentucky Senate and House of Representatives.
Kentucky is one of at least six states where lawmakers are proposing measures similar to Georgia’s law that would allow child support back to the time of pregnancy. Georgia also allows future parents to claim earned income tax credits for dependent children before birth. Utah enacted a pregnancy tax credit last year. And variations of these measures have been introduced to lawmakers in at least four other states.
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The Alabama Supreme Court’s recent ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected children echoes the longstanding anti-abortion movement’s decision to give embryos and fetuses the same legal and constitutional protections as the people who carry them. focused on goals.
In Kentucky, Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a staunch opponent of abortion, has proposed Senate Bill 110, a bill that would allow child support to be retroactively applied to unborn children.
“That child is a human life,” Westerfield told the committee. “And as soon as that life begins, the support obligation begins. And I think we should be able to move on after that.”
Kentucky Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfield attends a meeting of the State and Local Government Committee at the Capitol on February 19, 2020 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Kentucky lawmakers introduced a bill on February 27, 2024 that would give women rights. To collect child support for unborn children. (AP Photo/Brian Woolston, File)
The bill was amended by the committee to apply only to child support orders ordered within one year after birth, and to set strict deadlines for seeking court orders retroactive to the time of pregnancy.
“So if there is no child support order in place until the child is 8 years old, this does not apply,” Westerfield said. “This does not apply to 1 year and 1 day. It is limited to orders placed within 1 year of birth.”
Some Kentucky abortion rights advocates have since raised concerns about the bill.
“This type of bill sets the stage for personhood,” Tamara Wieder, advocacy director for Planned Parenthood Alliance of Kentucky, said in a statement. “SB 110 is a slippery slope, a slope that will lead us all in the same direction,” the Alabama court’s decision states.
“Rather than trying to push the idea of personhood through child support, this Congress should instead support pregnant women through expanded insurance, paid leave, or any other option that might provide more comprehensive benefits.” “We should consider supporting them,” she added.
One potential hurdle to Kentucky’s bill is the additional costs county attorneys would incur to enforce child support orders that apply to unborn children. In such cases, prosecutors are unable to tap into the federal funds they typically rely on to cover costs associated with child support enforcement, Westerfield said.
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Supporters of the bill could seek state spending to cover these additional costs. House and Senate leaders are expected to finalize the final details of the state’s next two-year budget in March.
Republican state Sen. Danny Carroll, the committee’s chairman, said the bill’s recognition of fetuses for child support purposes is the most important core issue for abortion opponents.
“That’s where life begins,” Carroll said. “And that’s where the obligation to care for that child should begin. And I think it’s a fundamental fairness issue for us to do this.”
