FRANKFORT, Ky. — While advocates continue to try and fight Kentucky's abortion ban in the courts, one state lawmaker is looking to provide some relief under the current law.
Kentucky's trigger law, which banned nearly all abortions across the Commonwealth, immediately went into effect after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
On Tuesday, Sen. David Yates (D-Louisville), filed a bill, formally called Senate Bill 99, that would create limited, 'narrowly tailored' exceptions for survivors of rape and incest, women with nonviable pregnancies, and pregnant women dealing with health complications.
He said Kentucky's ban is "one of the most extreme abortion bans" in the nation. Under the current law, the sole exception for an abortion is if it's needed to protect the life of a mother.
READ THE FULL BILL:
"What choice a victim makes should be between their medical doctor, themselves, their god -- it should not be made by the Commonwealth of Kentucky," he said during a news conference Tuesday. "It's wrong, it's cruel, it's overreaching government intrusion into the midst of those traumas. We should have compassion and empathy."
The bill, Hadley's Law, is named after Owensboro-native Hadley Duvall, who spoke out against former Attorney General Daniel Cameron's stance on abortion during Gov. Andy Beshear's re-election campaign.
In one campaign ad, Duvall, now in her early 20s, looked directly into the camera and talked about having been raped by her stepfather when she was 12 years old.
Duvall became pregnant as a seventh grader but eventually miscarried. Her stepfather was convicted of rape and is in prison.
"Under this current law, I would have had no choice. It's vital that we give women and girls in Kentucky the options they deserve in the face of such adversity," Duvall said Tuesday, alongside Yates. "Having lived through these circumstances myself, I stand here to advocate for those who are now where I once was."
She continued, "By putting my face with it, just allowed [people] to see that I could have been anybody's daughter. I could've been anybody's sister. Anybody's niece or granddaughter, and at any point it could be theirs. This bill is about compassion and empathy."
Is there support for Hadley's Law?
Yates believes there is strong support for these exceptions among a majority of Kentuckians following the defeat of Constitutional Amendment 2 in 2022 and Beshear's re-election last November.
On Tuesday, Beshear said he would immediately sign the bill into law if it's passed, but it would first need to get through both chambers of the legislature where Republicans hold the supermajority.
Yates hopes lawmakers will follow state GOP leaders who have signaled support for exceptions to the ban including, according to Yates, newly-elected Attorney General Russell Coleman and Secretary of State Michael Adams.
However, neither of the constitutional offices opted to comment when WHAS11 asked to confirm Yates' statement on their support.
When asked if there may be more support from Republicans than lawmakers are letting on, Yates said there's "a lot of partisan politics and political games that get played in the legislature."
"This is tough, I know this is tough. When you deal with the abortion issue, I have sat and talked with individuals and a lot of times they have strong, strong moral dilemma into it," he said. "This [bill] is so narrowly tailored that most of those conversations I've had, I usually get a head nod and say 'I understand, I agree.' If [lawmakers] take that 'I understand, I agree,' and vote that way, this thing will pass."
The bill is lengthy, and it would need significant support from Republican state lawmakers to have a chance.
Before the news conference Tuesday, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) told WHAS11 that he would not get in the way of a bill adding exceptions if it's what the Majority Caucus wants.
"What I do is say, 'Alright, I want you to understand what you're voting on, what the implications are and take it through the process and see how it ultimately ends up,' whether I agree with it or not," Stivers said, comparing the situation to when a bill setting a path to legalize medical marijuana passed through the Senate in 2023 -- despite Stivers' reservations.
A notable detail of Hadley's Law is it doesn't require patients to provide proof of the conditions, which is a process that can be tedious and at times traumatizing. But abortion rights groups, like the ACLU of Kentucky, fear Republicans may not get behind the bill without this kind of requirement.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.