Kentucky Republicans gaveled this year's General Assembly session into order on Tuesday, and now that House Dems and Speaker Greg Stumbo are gone and they have control of the legislature for the first time in 98 years, the GOP has a lot of catching up to do so the state can be as awful to women, black people, brown people, the LGBTQ community and schoolkids as the rest of the Republican-ruled South is. First up on the docket: unconstitutional abortion bans!
Women would not be allowed to get an abortion in Kentucky if they are more than 20 weeks pregnant under a controversial bill filed Tuesday on the first day of the state’s 2017 law-making session.
The bill appears to be on a fast track now that Republicans control the House, Senate and governor’s office. Most proposals in recent years to limit abortion have died in the Democratic-controlled House, but Republicans won a 64-36 super majority in November.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said Senate Bill 5 will be heard by a Senate committee Wednesday and could get a vote on the Senate floor this week.
Once approved by the Senate, the measure would go to the House, where newly elected Speaker Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, said there would be “overwhelming support” for the bill.
The proposal is the first considered by the Kentucky legislature that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Stivers said a similar measure has been approved by a federal appellate court but has not been considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Under the bill, which is sponsored by Republican Sen. Brandon Smith of Hazard, exceptions would be made in cases of rape and incest and when the mother’s life is in danger. Smith said his bill would require fines and suspensions for doctors who commit abortions after 20 weeks.
Kate Miller, advocacy director for the state ACLU, questioned the constitutionality of the proposal and said decisions about abortions should not be made by politicians.
Get used to that whole "GOP super-majority" thing. Kentucky requires a 3/5ths majority for most major changes to state law (particularly taxation and revenue legislation) which is why most Republican tea party nonsense died screaming in the House up until now. They had the numbers in the State Senate, but never the House.
That all changed in November.
The rapid descent of Bevinstan into a Kansas-style economic disaster is almost assured at this point, but first up it's time to punish the Obama coalition, starting with women.
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