New Kentucky bill aims to prosecute illegal abortions as criminal homicide

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A new Kentucky bill proposed on Tuesday would allow prosecuting illegal abortion as a homicide.
• Abortion is banned in the state since Roe vs. Wade was overturned except to save the life of the pregnant person.
• Kentucky’s current law establishes that life begins at fertilization, meaning all fetuses have the same protections as a living person.

A new Kentucky bill proposed on Tuesday would allow the state to prosecute a person who undergoes an illegal abortion as criminal homicide. The new bill was introduced by Republican State Representative Emily Callaway.

Kentucky has banned abortion in the state following the fall of Roe v. Wade, except to save the life of the pregnant person. Any abortion, whether due to rape, incest, or just personal choice is illegal. Currently, Kentucky implements a law that states that a person who receives an illegal abortion cannot be subjected to “any criminal conviction and penalty.”

That protection is no longer valid under Callaway’s new proposed legislation. The bill would amend Kentucky’s existing law to establish that life begins at fertilization. That means all fetuses are owed the same protections as a living person.

“Unless specifically provided otherwise, in prosecution under this chapter where the victim is an unborn child, enforcement shall be subject to the same legal principles as would apply to the homicide of a person who had been born alive,” the text says.

The legislation,HB 300, would make exceptions for “lawful” medical procedures done to save the pregnant person’s life. It will not prosecute individuals that underwent a medical procedure that results in a “natural or accidental” miscarriage.

Heather Gatnarek, the ACLU of Kentucky’s senior staff attorney, criticized the new bill, calling it “absurd and offensive and dangerous.”

“It’s just so far afield from what we know Kentuckians want and what they need,” she said in an interview. “We know people still need access to abortions.”

Kentucky Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, slammed Callaway’s bill publicly on Wednesday. In a statement, the group says it is “greatly concerned” that under HB 300 “all parties to the abortion, including the mother of the child, would face criminal charges.”

“We oppose any legislative and policy initiatives that criminalize women who seek abortions,” executive director Addia Wuchner said, urging members of the Kentucky (General) Assembly” to reject HB 300 as written.”

Source: Yahoo News