FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Despite pro-choice advocates gathering at the state capitol in Frankfort on Wednesday, the House Bill 3 veto was overridden in a 31-6 vote.
The bill will now become law, banning all abortions after 15 weeks.
In explaining his yes vote for HB 3, Senator Stephen Meredith (R) says abortion is the country’s "greatest sin."
As debate continues inside the Senate, pro-choice advocates can be heard outside yelling “Bans off our bodies!” @LEX18News
— Mike Valente (@ValenteLEX18) April 13, 2022
Sen. Karen Berg (D) says this bill will essentially put an end to safe and legal abortion in Kentucky, argues it will raise maternal mortality rates in the state. She also emphasized there is no exception to rape and incest in the bill.
Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU-KY) plan to file two individual lawsuits challenging the law.
"The lawsuits will argue the law would create unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers in the state to stop offering abortion care services. Because the law is impossible to comply with, it amounts to a de facto abortion ban, violating patients’ federal right to abortion care under Roe v. Wade."
The ACLU and ACLU-KY also challenge the 15-week abortion ban.
