(LEX 18) — A Kentucky lawmaker wants the legislature to consider providing exceptions to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban.
Sen. David Yates filed Senate Bill 35, which is better known as Hadley's Law. The bill would allow legal abortion in cases of rape and incest, nonviable pregnancies, and medical emergencies. Kentucky’s only current exception is when the life of the mother is in danger.
The bill is named after Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who is now a national advocate for abortion care. Duvall became pregnant as a seventh grader but ultimately miscarried. Her stepfather was convicted of rape.
"If a young child is raped by a family member, incest, to remove any exceptions, any choice, that she may have - I think is wrong," said Yates.
Yates filed an identical bill in 2024 and it received no action in the General Assembly. But he hopes this year is different.
"This isn't about whether or not you believe that abortion is right or wrong, this is about whether you believe the Commonwealth of Kentucky should be able to remove all exceptions to abortion in all circumstances - including rape, incest and non-viability of the pregnancy," said Yates.
Yates said this issue is personal for him. He recalled his wife dealing with a nonviable fetus when she went through the IVF process.
"For her to continue to have a nonviable fetus and carry that until it dies naturally in her body, I think, is just inhumane and cruel," he said.
