Supreme Court allows Kentucky abortion law

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left standing a Kentucky law requiring abortionists to perform an ultrasound, describe the results to the mother, and play the unborn baby’s heartbeat aloud before an abortion.

Why was the law challenged? The American Civil Liberties Union argued the “display and describe” ultrasound law violated physicians’ right to free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying, “As a First Amendment matter, there is nothing suspect with a state's requiring a doctor, before performing an abortion, to make truthful, non-misleading factual disclosures, relevant to informed consent, even if those disclosures relate to unborn life and have the effect of persuading the patient not to have an abortion.”

Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report in The Sift about how Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican who signed the bill into law, lost his bid for reelection to Democrat Andy Beshear.