The move aims to ease Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban by creating narrow exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, as lawmakers battle over an issue that became a forefront of last year’s gubernatorial campaign. The bill was introduced in the Republican-controlled House on Monday.
Republican state Rep. Ken Fleming introduced the bill on the last day that new House bills could be introduced during this year’s 60-day session. House Speaker David Osborne said the bill’s prospects were uncertain and that the House’s Republican supermajority had not debated specific abortion legislation.
Kentucky has had a near-total abortion ban in place since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. The state’s so-called trigger law went into effect, banning abortions unless performed to save the mother’s life or prevent disabling injury. . Exceptions are not made in cases of rape or incest.
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Fleming’s proposal would make abortion legal in cases of rape and incest if the abortion occurs within six weeks of the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period, according to a statement explaining the bill. It is said that it will change the The measure would also allow abortions to remove a dead fetus and in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities that prevent the fetus from surviving after birth.
“We all encounter difficult and heart-breaking decisions in our lives,” Fleming said in a statement. “As a father of two daughters, I have always supported them financially, emotionally and especially spiritually. I have always supported them financially, emotionally and especially spiritually. I have always supported them financially, emotionally and especially spiritually. I have always supported them financially, emotionally and especially mentally. Cases involving “should include exceptions” in our state’s abortion laws. ”
Current exceptions meant to save a mother’s life or prevent disabling injuries would remain in his bill.
January 14, 2020 at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky. A bill was introduced on February 26, 2024, aimed at loosening Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban by creating limited exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Last day a new House bill could be introduced this year. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
The measure also includes a provision that would create a process for doctors to document the circumstances of abortions performed under state law.
The last-minute bill filing mirrors another Republican lawmaker’s attempt to loosen the state’s abortion ban last year. This bill was also introduced on the last day of legislation in the House of Representatives, but it did not make any progress as the abortion issue was ignored by the Republican supermajority in Congress in 2023.
The issue came to the forefront in last year’s hotly contested Kentucky gubernatorial race. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, an abortion rights supporter who won re-election for his second term, slammed his Republican challenger’s support for the state’s blanket abortion ban.
The Kentucky Supreme Court last year refused to strike down the ban. But while the justices ruled on narrow legal questions, the larger constitutional question of whether access to abortion should be legal in the Bluegrass State remained unanswered.
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In late 2023, a Kentucky woman filed a lawsuit seeking abortion rights, but her lawyers later dropped the case after learning that her fetus had no active heart. In 2022, Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying constitutional protections to abortion.
Kentucky is one of 14 states that currently bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and abortion rights nationwide, most Republican-controlled states have begun some kind of ban. Two states, Georgia and South Carolina, ban abortions if heart activity is detected, around six weeks into pregnancy, before the woman even realizes she is pregnant. Utah and Wyoming ban abortion during pregnancy, but courts have suspended enforcement while considering whether the laws comply with the state constitutions.
