Bill banning some abortions only needs Governor’s signature

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ)- A bill that looks to ban a common abortion procedure for women more than 11 weeks pregnant now just needs Governor Matt Bevin’s signature to become law.

House Bill 454 passed through the general assembly Tuesday. It would ban doctors from performing what is known as a dilation and evacuation abortion, one of the more common second-trimester abortion procedures, on women more than 11 weeks pregnant.

The procedure uses suction and surgical tools to remove the fetus, something advocates of this bill say is gruesome and inhumane.

“We don’t punish hardened criminals by tearing them apart limb from limb and yet an unborn child is regularly terminated this way,” Kent Ostrander from the Family Foundation said.

Lawmakers seem to agree with the house passing the bill Tuesday, but those on the other side of the argument are not backing down, saying banning d&e abortions puts an undue burden on a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

In a statement ACLU of Kentucky Advocacy Director Kate Miller said, “this ban would put patient safety at risk,” and the ACLU will continue to fight back against what it calls “extreme legislative attacks on Kentuckians’ reproductive rights.”

This bill is not the first of its kind. Several other states, including Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia, Texas, and Arkansas have passed similar bans.

Some have been challenged and temporarily blocked in court, something Kentucky lawmakers said they are willing to risk while debating the bill.

“It’s worth challenging precedent. If the whole argument for not passing legislation like this on any level is that the constitution already prohibits it, you want to go through a list of all the different watershed moments there have been and the change of law or the history of this country that wouldn’t have happened if that was the philosophy we used,” Republican Seantor Whitney Westerfield from Hopkinsville said.

The ACLU has not said whether or not it will file suit against this ban if the Governor signs it into law.