FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Commonwealth Policy Center, or CPC, held a press conference addressing what they believe are misconceptions of Kentucky’s anti-abortion laws.
Robin Sertell shares her story, and reasons for why the 'Born-Alive Infant Protection Act' was passed in the commonwealth in January 2021. Sertell came in from Montana. She says before she was born her mother tried to abort her three times.
She says, "There's a lot of shame attached when you don't feel like your mother wanted you as a live person and so a lot of times we don't come and share. I've come because I’ve come to the place where I know my daddy god has put me on this planet for a reason."
CPC says they wanted to speak about this now because they say there's a narrative criticizing anti-abortion laws.
CPC’s founder and executive director, Richard Nelson said, "We wanted to remind people why these laws were enacted in the first place, and how they actually help women and help to elevate the humanity of the unborn."
Since Senate Bill 9's passing, the ACLU of Kentucky’s Reproductive Freedom Project says it has seen short-term impacts, including difficulty seeking medical care in special circumstances like miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies and have long-term concerns about medical providers wanting to practice in the state.
The ACLU of Kentucky’s Angela Cooper says, "It's gonna be detrimental to the economy, it is detrimental to people with reproductive organs who would like to be able to make their own choices, and it's bleeding into other areas of legislation."
The ACLU of Kentucky has been working to protect abortion access and reproductive freedom in the commonwealth -- and maternal health and policies. They say workaround proposals aren't genuine. Cooper says, "Pregnancy is complicated, it's a complicated state to be in. It is something that only trained medical professionals should offer their opinion on, and any suggestion that some piece of legislation that offers so-called exceptions will solve all of our problems is disingenuous and false."
CPC argues that current abortion laws do not and will not impact the state's economy, saying that the best way to help is to support life. Ahead of the upcoming election, CPC says they want to change narratives that don't support the anti-abortion legislation
Nelson says, "They're common-sense laws that most Kentuckians support. They empower women with more information, again like the ultrasound bill, like the chemical abortion reporting act, a number of bills that empower women and that also humanize the unborn."
