Kentucky lawmakers add clarifications to exceptions in 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 currently protects unborn babies from abortion except in situations where the mother's life is at stake, or when the procedure is needed to prevent the serious permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ  belonging to the mother. 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 clarify that doctors are permitted to:

• 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 that 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.