FRANKFORT (KT) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a brief with the Kentucky Supreme Court on Monday that defends Kentucky’s Human Life Protection Act and Heartbeat Law.
Cameron argues the Kentucky General Assembly has the policy-making prerogative to prohibit all abortions and that these pro-life laws should remain in effect.
“Kentucky’s Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion; this matter has clearly been given to the people’s representatives in the Kentucky General Assembly, and they have spoken on this issue,” he said. “I urge the Court to reject the abortion facilities’ arguments that our Constitution protects an unwritten right to an abortion and to uphold these important pro-life laws.”
In the filing, Cameron wrote, “Since 1879, Kentucky’s courts have recognized the General Assembly’s prerogative to prohibit abortion. And just before Roe was decided, this Court’s predecessor reaffirmed that regulating abortion is a matter for the legislature. No Kentucky case has come close to saying otherwise. That is because, like the U.S. Constitution, Kentucky’s Constitution ‘is neutral on the issue of abortion and allows the people and their elected representatives to address the issue through the democratic process.’”
Kentucky’s Human Life Protection Act took effect immediately upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. The Human Life Protection Act and the Heartbeat Law were quickly challenged by two Kentucky abortion facilities, Planned Parenthood and EMW. A circuit judge in Louisville granted the abortion facilities’ request to stop enforcement of the laws.
