On Wednesday, the state legislature in Kentucky voted to override Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s veto of a pro-life measure that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
On Wednesday, both chambers voted to override the veto, with the Kentucky House voting at 76-21, and the Senate at 31-6.
The bill bans abortions after 15 weeks gestation except in the case of a medical emergency, including saving the life of the mother.
It also places new rules on abortion pills, requiring qualified physicians who wish to be “a nonsurgical abortion provider” to carry out several steps, such as informing “the patient that studies show babies born following the abortion reversal process have a rate of birth defects no higher than the general population,” and informing “the patient that studies show that following a reversal process or otherwise treating a pregnant patient with progesterone during pregnancy does not lead to increased mortality rates.”
The provider is also prohibited from giving out abortion pills to anyone who is past 10 weeks of pregnancy.
The law will likely make it more difficult for abortion providers to operate in the state.
The Washington Post reported, “The list of restrictions presents too many obstacles for clinics to continue providing care in the short term, said Alecia Fields, an abortion provider at the Planned Parenthood in Louisville.”
One such rule is the new regulation on fetal remains, which makes it so that abortion clinics must coordinate with funeral homes or crematoriums to bury or cremate the remains of aborted babies.
Beshear vetoed the bill on Friday, noting that there was not an exception for either incest or rape.
“Rape and incest are violent crimes,” he said. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”
The legislature also voted to override another of Beshear’s vetoes concerning a bill prohibiting biological males from participating in girls sports from 6th to 12th grade, as well as women’s sports at the collegiate level.
The Daily Wire reported, “The override occurred after Beshear vetoed SB 83, the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, last week and claimed the legislation would likely not hold up under legal challenges. The bill originally passed in the Kentucky House of Representatives 70-23 and in the state Senate 26-9.”
“SB 83 requires a student to compete in sports according to the gender assigned at birth. Biological male athletes who seek to compete in female sports will not be allowed to participate,” The Daily Wire highlighted.
The move comes as other legislatures around the country are passing pro-life legislation in anticipation of an upcoming Supreme Court ruling on a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
On Thursday, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis (FL) signed a measure that bans abortions after 15 weeks gestation.
The Daily Wire reported, “[t]he law, HB 5, allows exceptions when the mother’s life is at risk or in danger of ‘irreversible physical impairment,’ or if the unborn baby has a fetal abnormality. It does not offer exceptions for rape.”
“We are here today to protect life,” DeSantis said Thursday before the bill signing. “We are here today to defend those who can’t defend themselves.”
“This is a time when these babies have beating hearts, they can move, they can taste, they can see, they can feel pain, they can suck their thumbs, and they have brain waves,” he added, referencing babies who are 15 weeks or older. “And so this will represent the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation.”