Abortion

Kentucky Senate Passes Ultrasound Bill

The bill would require a woman seeking an abortion to hear a description of the fetus over her objections.

The bill would require a woman seeking an abortion to hear a description of the fetus over her objections. Ultrasound via Shutterstock

The Kentucky senate passed a bill Wednesday that would require women seeking abortions to undergo mandatory ultrasounds and have the results described to them.

SB 8 passed overwhelmingly on a 33-5 vote and now moves to the Democrat-controlled house, where similar bills have repeatedly gone to die.

State Sen. Whitney Westerfield (R-Hopkinsville) told the Associated Press that he’s asking supporters of his bill to pray to “soften the hearts” of house leaders.

“SB 8 is an invasion of the doctor-patient relationship, and moreover has been shown time and again in court to be unconstitutional,” Derek Selznick, Reproductive Freedom Project director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, told Rewire 

The language of the bill is almost identical to one that was permanently blocked in North Carolina because it infringed on doctors’ First Amendment rights. Both laws would require a doctor to put the ultrasound image in the woman’s line of sight and describe the fetus to her, even over her objections.

Selznick said that rather than spending money on the inevitable litigation that would come from passing an unconstitutional bill, “that money would be better spent on early childhood education, teacher salaries, and other important measures.”