Pro-choice advocates protest in the Kentucky statehouse, as the legislature overrides Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of the omnibus abortion bill. Photo by Mark Payne | LINK nky

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Kentucky abortion providers seeks to block two abortion bans, saying that the Kentucky Constitution protects the right to privacy and bodily autonomy.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky and Planned Parenthood Northwest, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky filed the lawsuit Monday, three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

RELATED: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade: Here’s what that means for Kentucky

The providers are seeking, as part of the suit, to block the state abortion ban passed in 2019, along with a six-week ban.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to take away a right we have relied on for 50 years has caused devastation in Kentucky and across the country,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We hope the court blocks Kentucky’s abortion bans to prevent the life-altering harm they are causing. Since Friday, Kentuckians have been turned away from appointments and denied the ability to control their own bodies and futures.”

Amber Duke, the interim executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky, said the group is bringing forward everything it has in the fight for abortion access.

“We are mobilizing our members, supporters, and volunteers to show up at the statehouse and the ballot box to demand our rights to bodily autonomy,” Duke said. “As we navigate a future in which the government can force Kentuckians to remain pregnant against their will, we’ll be doubling down on our work to end maternal mortality, secure paid leave, and expand access to childcare.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke on Roe v. Wade among other topics on Monday afternoon at the Florence Rotary Club.

“What the court did, in effect, was return this very controversial issue to the people and their representatives so that it could be decided through the democratic process,” McConnell said. 

Republicans have made a point to insist that the Supreme Court’s decision does not ban abortion, but returns the decision to the states. McConnell said any further change following the ruling is “almost entirely likely to occur at the state level.” He said it’s likely to be “litigated out” and settled with greater ease among the states than at the federal level because state legislatures only need a majority vote rather than two-thirds in Congress. 

He sided with the court’s decision, adding that previous aborting rulings relied on precedent, which “is important, but sometimes precedent is wrong.” 

He used a Supreme Court ruling in 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson, which settled that railcars were to continue to be racially segregated as long as they were equal in accommodations, establishing the “separate but equal” rule. The only dissenting opinion in that case came from Justice John Marshall Harlan, of Kentucky. That decision was essentially overturned 58 years later in Brown v. Board of Education, resulting in the desegregation of schools. 
“Sometimes precedent is outdated or wrong,” he concluded.  

When asked about the possibility of poor outcomes for pregnant mothers as a result of the ruling, McConnell said there are “sensitive views on both sides of this issue.” 
There have been theories that Republicans may move to model a law after the Supreme Court’s ruling if Republicans take control of Congress following midterm elections. McConnell said it takes “60 votes for either side to prevail on this issue, so I think the democratic process on this issue is going to work out at the state level.” 

As LINK nky's executive editor, Meghan Goth oversees editorial operations across all platforms. Before she started at LINK in 2022, she managed the investigative and enterprise teams at WCPO 9 in Cincinnati....