A House committee on Thursday passed a constitutional amendment that would remove protections and funding for legal abortions, while cutting off testimony of those opposed to the bill.
House Bill 67 amends the state Constitution with this simple but broad statement:
To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.
The chair of the committee, abortion opponent Rep. Kevin Bratcher, cut off testimony after ten minutes, not allowing witnesses to testify in opposition to the bill. He then called the vote, and the bill passed out of committee 11-7, with every Republican on the committee voting for it.
Afterward, Tamarra Wieder, state director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana and Kentucky, issued this statement:
Today, voices were silenced for political gain. The goal of these bills is to ban all abortion care in the state. HB 67 is an extreme bill that risks Kentuckians’ lives to score political points. If allowed to take effect, the consequences would be dire. This bill simply goes too far in inserting government into our personal, private lives. It affects important life decisions that should be made by individuals in consultation with their doctors, their families, and their faith, and not extremist politicians.”
Democratic lawmakers spoke out against both the bill and the treatment of the witnesses:
- Rep. Joni Jenkins: “This is going to affect over half of the people in Kentucky who are female…there is no reason to rush this through. These are important life changing decisions and to rush it through is irresponsible.”
- Rep. Reginald Meeks said he sympathized with the testifiers present because people in the Black community have dealt with not being listened to for generations: “I come from a people who often have not had a say over what happens to their bodies. … It is not only disrespectful, it is a disgrace that we would continue to have that dominion over a very personal and private decision.”
One of the witnesses who was not allowed to speak, Danielle Stone, shared her own story:
One night, that I will never be able to forget, I was raped by two men. This night plays over and over again in my head. No person should have to live with this level of trauma, but especially not a fifteen-year-old child. It was shortly after this experience that I found out I was pregnant.
I knew that I was not ready to become a parent and the prospect of carrying this pregnancy was agonizing. I knew the best decision for me was abortion.
I believe that every woman should have the health care coverage she needs, and that all of the bans on insurance coverage for abortion should be repealed because they are discriminatory and harm women’s health.
Adding political language to Kentucky’s Constitution about abortion is not something the General Assembly should be debating. We owe it to women – and to ourselves – to treat them with compassion and fight for their dignity.
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
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