Kentucky lawmakers add medical exceptions to pro-life law

Both chambers of the Kentucky state legislature passed a measure adding several medical exceptions to the state’s laws governing pregnancy and abortion procedures. Kentucky law protects unborn babies from abortion unless the mother’s life is at stake. The newly passed amendment offered more detail on the medical situations in which a medical abortion would be legal. The updated law ensures that women will receive essential medical care by offering doctors certainty that their actions are legal under specific circumstances, Republican state Rep. Jason Nemes said, according to the Associated Press.

The revised law would allow doctors to:

• Remove end ectopic or molar pregnancies that are not viable and could threaten the mother’s health

• Remove a miscarried embryo or fetus that no longer has a heartbeat

• Treat sepsis or hemorrhaging triggered by a miscarriage

• Finish miscarriages that are incomplete, past the point of saving the child, and threaten the mother’s health

The bill now moves to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk for final approval.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report about the future of abortion legislation.