KY abortion rights advocates mark milestone, lament state’s barrier to ballot initiatives

Speaking in Bowling Green against Kentucky's abortion laws, Dr. Janet Wygal said: “No physician should be forced to wait until someone becomes sick enough to intervene with basic necessary health care because the government says so.” (Getty Images)

Kentucky Reproductive Freedom Fund members, who in June announced a pro-abortion access messaging campaign , gathered at the Warren County Courthouse in Bowling Green Thursday to say their campaign has reached 1.8 million people through digital ads.

Ona Marshall, who founded KRFF and co-owned one of Kentucky’s last two abortion clinics, also criticized Kentucky’s lack of avenues for citizens to put abortion access on the ballot.

“We could follow the lead of other states that are moving to protect reproductive rights,” she said. “These are states that have citizen-led ballot initiatives to protect abortion access in their state constitutions. But that choice isn’t possible in Kentucky.”

Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota, Florida and Maryland will have abortion-related questions on the ballot this November, States Newsroom has reported. Others are working to qualify and follow suit, including Arizona, Montana, Missouri and Arkansas. Kentucky is one of 24 states that do not allow citizen-led ballot initiatives.

Thursday’s event came two years after a judge reinstated Kentucky’s abortion ban — after a brief injunction following the fall of Roe V. Wade and subsequent trigger law.

“Kentucky is in a health care crisis , and our choices to reverse this dire situation are being limited by lawmakers,” Marshall said. “Our freedom in Kentucky is not being protected, our freedom is being denied. Our lawmakers can repeal the abortion bans and restore our freedom.” Marshall co-owned Louisville’s EMW Surgical Center, which provided abortions Louisville’s but closed when the abortion ban took effect..

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion, in 2022, a “trigger law” went into effect in Kentucky that banned abortions. Another law bans abortions after six weeks. Doctors have previously said many people don’t know they’re pregnant at the six-week mark .

Later that year, Kentucky voters rejected an anti-abortion amendment that would have stated there is no right to an abortion in Kentucky’s Constitution. Only the legislature has the power to put constitutional amendments on the ballot in Kentucky.

Kentucky does not have abortion exceptions for rape or incest, though both Republican and Democrat ic lawmakers have filed unsuccessful bills to change that in recent years.

Kentucky has an exception in cases where the life of the pregnant person is at risk. Dr. Janet Wygal , an OB-GYN who spoke alongside Marshall Thursday, said that’s not enough.

“No physician should be forced to wait until someone becomes sick enough to intervene with basic necessary health care because the government says so,” said Wygal. “These laws create an environment of fear and uncertainty, not only for doctors and their patients seeking abortion care, but also for those needing the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including IVF ( in vitro fertilization ), contraception and cancer screenings.”

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