Pregnant woman in Kentucky sues for the right to get an abortion
Source: PBS News Hour/AP
Dec 8, 2023 5:59 PM EST
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A pregnant woman in Kentucky filed a lawsuit Friday demanding the right to an abortion, the second legal challenge in days to sweeping abortion bans that have taken hold in more than a dozen U.S. states since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.
The suit, filed in state court in Louisville, says Kentucky’s near-total prohibition of abortion violates the plaintiff’s rights to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution.
The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, is about eight weeks pregnant and she wants to have an abortion in Kentucky but cannot legally do so because of the state’s ban, the suit said. She is seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion.
“I am a proud Kentuckian and I love the life my family and I have here, but I’m angry that now that I’m pregnant and do not want to be,” the plaintiff said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups backing her challenge. “The government is interfering in my private matters and blocking me from having an abortion. This is my decision, not the government or any other person’s.”
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/pregnant-woman-in-kentucky-sues-for-the-right-to-get-an-abortion
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I'm sympathetic to this woman's plight.
However Kentucky is close enough to Pennsylvania and she could easily enter our state and get a legal abortion. The hospitals of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (southwest corner of PA) are opening their doors to many women with troubled pregnancies from other states.
