FRANKFORT – A second-trimester abortion procedure known as D & E would be prohibited in Kentucky for most women who are at least 11 weeks into their pregnancy under a bill that passed the state Senate today by a 31-5 vote.
House Bill 454, as amended, would not ban abortion at or after 11 weeks but would ban the D & E – or dilation and evacuation – procedure except in medical emergencies. A D & E is described by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an abortion that uses “sharp instrument techniques, but also suction and other instrumentation such as forceps, for evacuation.”
“Abortions by dismemberment, crushing or suction are brutal procedures which are and should be considered repulsive, barbaric and inhumane by any societal standards,” said Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, who presented HB 454. “This bill upholds basic human dignity.”
One lawmaker voting against the bill was Sen. Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, who told the Senate that HB 45 would outlaw the safest abortion producer – forcing women to seek out riskier, more dangerous, producers.
“We don’t even stop there. We want to pass a law that has been unanimously ruled illegal,” said Thomas, adding federal courts struck down similar laws in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana.
Sen. Wil Schroder, R-Wilder, said Kentucky is in the jurisdiction of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, and that no federal judge from that circuit has had a chance to rule on this type of law.
HB 454 now goes back to the House for consideration of a Senate change.