Republican lawmakers across the country continue to target abortion access by introducing new laws that not only criminalize the act of abortion itself, but anyone who attempts to help someone get access. The latest attempt at completely criminalizing abortion comes from one Kentucky lawmaker who has proposed legislation that would allow the state to prosecute a person for criminal homicide if they get an illegal abortion.
While the state has a trigger law banning abortion, the law in place targets doctors for performing abortions, as opposed to pregnant people who receive them. This new bill would subject all people involved to prosecution.
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The abortion ban legislation in place also only has exceptions for life-threatening health risks. Introduced on Tuesday by state Rep. Emily Callaway, House Bill 300 would hold illegal abortions to the “same legal principles as would apply to the homicide of a person who had been born alive.”
According to the Associated Press, the bill would only have exceptions to prevent a pregnant person’s death and would expand the definition of a human being to include an “unborn child.” Other exceptions, including spontaneous miscarriages and other medical terminations, would only be accepted if “reasonable alternatives to save the life of the unborn child are unavailable or were attempted unsuccessfully.”
Outside of abortion rights activists, the bill also received surprising backlash from anti-abortion groups and the state attorney general, who noted it would be wrong to charge women with homicide for terminating pregnancies.
"We oppose any legislative and policy initiatives that criminalize women who seek abortions," executive director of Kentucky Right to Life Addia Wuchner said. "Furthermore, we respectfully urge members of the Kentucky (General) Assembly to reject HB 300 as written." Wuchner noted that a concern was that "all parties to the abortion, including the mother of the child, would face criminal charges."
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is running for governor, urged the state legislature to reject the bill, noting that it “strikes the wrong balance.”
“If adopted by the General Assembly, this bill would allow pregnant mothers who have an abortion to be criminally charged and prosecuted with homicide,” Cameron said in a statement to the AP.
Cameron looked to distance himself from the new law, saying that while he supported the abortion ban he did not believe in prosecuting those who seek abortions.
“While I strongly support prohibiting abortions in Kentucky, I just as strongly support helping pregnant women,” Cameron said. “Pregnant mothers deserve our help, support and life-affirming options, not to face criminal charges.”
Sadly, this isn’t the only abortion-related legislation expected to be introduced in the state’s legislature— although many believe it won’t make it far.
"We are aware of Rep. Emily Callaway's bill. However, in the history of our commonwealth, the Kentucky General Assembly has never passed a pro-life measure that did not take into consideration the necessity for any exceptions, nor has this House Majority Caucus ever contemplated doing so,” said Kentucky Republican House speaker David Osborne, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
Obsborne said he expects similar proposals in the next few days, including some that would provide further exceptions when abortion would be legal. Speaking to the exceptions for abortions, he claimed that Kentucky lawmakers have “never passed a ‘pro-life’ measure that did not take into consideration the necessity for any exceptions, nor has this House majority caucus ever contemplated doing so.”
The bill also comes at a time during which the Kentucky Supreme Court is weighing whether to temporarily suspend the current trigger abortion law in place, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. A lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality is pending.
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