Kentucky has signed into law the harshest abortion restrictions in the country, virtually ending all abortions in the state.
The sweeping law bans abortions after 15 weeks, restricts minors’ access to abortions, and cracks down on medication abortions. The new law went immediately into effect.
Kentucky was not the only state to bring in a 15-week abortion ban. Florida became the third red state to ban abortion in the last three days alone.
Kentucky’s law is seen as the harshest because of how the law is written to crack down on medical professionals. It will force the only two remaining abortion clinics in the state, both located in Louisville, to immediately close due to the new onerous requirements on doctors. This means that Kentuckians will have to go out of state for abortions.
Republican-led legislatures across the U.S. are passing extreme and sweeping anti-abortion laws that experts have labeled to be blatantly unconstitutional and draconian.
The new laws are coming in anticipation of an upcoming Supreme Court decision. The conservative-stacked Supreme Court is expected to eliminate Americans’ right to an abortion, in what will be the biggest undoing of a legal precedent set by the Supreme Court ever.
Kentucky Governor Andy Breshear is a Democrat, and he vetoed the bill last week, arguing that it is likely unconstitutional due to the 1973 decision by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade which recognized a person’s fundamental right to seek an abortion. Furthermore, Beshear argued that the bill needed to have exclusions for victims of rape and incest, and said that the law cannot be enforced without additional state-allocated funding.
But the Republican-led House and Senate overrode his veto and brought the bill into law.
Experts and advocates say that it is clear the Kentucky GOP was emboldened by similar 15-week bans pending before the Supreme Court, as well as 15-week bans in other states.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed into law a bill banning abortions at 15 weeks as well. The new law replaces one that allowed abortions until 24 weeks. It does not make any exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or human trafficking.
Oklahoma also banned abortions at 15 weeks earlier this week, in a bill that will make performing an abortion a felony in most cases.
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