ACLU of Kentucky

The Kentucky’s General Assembly adjourned the 2009 session on Thursday without passing any anti-choice legislation.  Anti-abortion rights legislators introduced four different bills that attacked women’s health care.  With help from legislators in the House and Senate we defeated all four bills.

Three of the bills died in Committee, while Senate Bill 79 passed the Senate and died in the Health and Welfare Committee in the House.  SB 79 would make every woman undergo a (medically unnecessary) ultrasound prior to an abortion and the person performing the ultrasound would have to describe the results of the ultrasound.  The bill allows for the woman to “avert her eyes,” but she would still have to hear the results of the ultrasound.  The second part of this bill would require a woman to travel to the abortion facility 24 hours prior to the medical procedure to receive state mandated materials and lecture/counseling.  Currently, women can receive these materials through the mail and receive the state mandated lecture/counseling over the phone.

Fortunately, Kentucky’s House of Representatives did not take up this legislation for a floor vote.  We owe a special thank you to Senators Denise Harper Angel, Gerald Neal, Tim Shaughnessy, and Kathy Stein.  These were the only four Senators courageous enough to vote against SB79. We also owe a thank you to the eight members of the Health and Welfare Committee who voted against the bill.  Those members are Representatives Tom Burch, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Susan Westrom, Dr. David Watkins, Darryl Owens, Mary Lou Marzian, Joni Jenkins, and Reginald Meeks.   None deserve our praise more than Representative Meeks.  An unknown member or members of the General Assembly threatened Representative Meeks in order for him to vote for SB 79.  Representative Meeks stood up and told the committee that he would have his vote held hostage and voted against the bill.