WASHINGTON, D.C. - (LEX 18) — As legislators returned to Washington, D.C. after their Fourth of July recess, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"Last month, the Court corrected one of the most egregious legal and moral mistakes of the 20th century," McConnell said.
McConnell played a key role in the events leading up to that decision, blocking Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, which set up President Donald Trump to have three nominees to the highest court in the land.
"Millions of Americans spent half a century working, marching, and praying for this landmark day. It has been my honor to stand with them throughout the journey that led to June 24th, 2022, and to continue to stand together," he said.
Of course, this is a fiercely-debated issue and the states are now grappling with the fallout, including here in Kentucky, where a trigger law banning nearly all abortions except those that threaten the life of the mother briefly went into effect but is now tied up in the courts.
"The fact that the trigger law doesn't include an exception for people who are attacked, sexually assaulted, and bear no responsibility whatsoever for what has happened to them, not giving them options, I believe, is wrong," said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear in a July 7 news conference. "If it goes into effect, we'll have to look at what's possible, but listen, I'm a realist. There was an amendment in both the Senate and the House that got a roll-call vote where people said, 'Wait a minute. Let's have … I think it was on HB3 and others… exceptions for victims of rape and incest,' I think it failed the Senate 26-9 or something close to that. It overwhelmingly failed the House, so to provide that type of exception, just reasonable options that I think most Kentuckians agree on, may take different members of the General Assembly or at least a change of heart by a whole lot of them."
There's a lot to be settled here as courts decide on Kentucky's trigger law and, of course, when abortion goes on the ballot here in Kentucky in the fall.
