If Roe v. Wade is overturned following the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion this week, Kentucky’s fetal heartbeat bill that passed in 2019 would be automatically triggered, meaning all abortions would essentially be banned in the state.
In the Supreme Court draft, it would be left up to states as to how they would handle abortion access. While the decision isn’t final, it is most likely to come in the next few months.
“The majority of Kentuckians are against overturning Roe v. Wade, and this news of the leaked Supreme Court document is appalling for many reasons,” said Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport). “This decision shows no concern for women or victims of rape and incest who will be forced to give birth as a result of these laws and decisions.”
The Kentucky law would require any doctor performing an abortion to determine whether a fetus has a “detectable fetal heartbeat,” and if one is detected, prevent them from performing an abortion.
“If this opinion is the final issued opinion, then Kentucky’s ‘trigger’ law will kick in, which bans all abortion,” said Josh Douglas, an election law and voting rights professor at the University of Kentucky.
For now, women still have access to an abortion in Kentucky while the Supreme Court ruling hangs in the balance.
“Abortion is still safe and legal in Kentucky, but last night’s leaked opinion makes it clear that our deepest fears are coming true: abortion access is at a crisis point,” said Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, and Kentucky. “The threat to abortion access across the country is not hypothetical – our right to abortion is being crushed right now.”
In April, a Kentucky judge issued a temporary restraining order against House Bill 3, the omnibus abortion bill that passed the Kentucky legislature earlier this year. The bill temporarily halted abortion services in Kentucky in April.
“We’ve already gotten a preview of what comes next in Kentucky as we watched the state go dark for eight days on abortion access because of sweeping abortion restrictions passed by the Kentucky General Assembly,” Gibron said. “What’s coming is dangerous and will open the floodgates for states across the country to ban abortion, devastating communities nationwide.”
In a statement, Sen. Mitch McConnell was concerned with the “breach” of the Supreme Court opinion, and other GOP members are following suit. But, Douglas thinks that while the leak is unprecedented, the story is about the gutting of abortion rights.
“It’s unprecedented to have a draft opinion like this leaked to the public,” Douglas said. “It underscores the unprecedented nature of the decision undoing a case that people have relied on for decades. The story is, of course, the gutting of the right to abortion and the change in constitutional law it portends, but the leak reinforces that story.”
Roberts recently shared her story of being raped as a 14-year-old girl. The story isn’t something Roberts expected to share or relive so frequently, but she said it paints a picture of who is impacted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“When I share my story, I ask people to think of a girl at 14 forced to carry a rapist’s baby,” Roberts said. “I’m giving them a personalized view on who these laws truly affect, including those who have survived violent crimes only to be violated again by the state – a state, in our case, that has simultaneously cut support for families, childcare and contraception.”