Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed a bill Tuesday banning abortions on the basis of race, sex or disability despite a pending lawsuit from a legal advocacy group. Bevin signed House Bill 5 “prohibit[ing] an abortion if the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion, in whole or in part, because of an unborn child’s sex, race, color, national origin, or disability, except in the case of a medical emergency,” according to the legislation. The bill was signed under an “emergency” clause and took immediate effect, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. The bill bans “eugenics-based abortions,” according to Bevin’s general counsel, M. Stephen Pitt, the Courier reported. The ACLU, a nonprofit legal and advocacy organization, sued the state after the Senate passed the bill by a 32-4 vote on March 13. “The passage of House Bill 5 represents a thinly veiled effort of the Kentucky General Assembly to advance their anti-abortion agenda under the guise of an anti-discrimination bill. This law will do nothing to improve the lives of Kentuckians with disabilities,” staff attorney at Kentucky’s ACLU, Heather Gatnarek, said in a statement about the bill, according to Cincinnati Public Radio. We will see the state of Kentucky in court (again) after they attempt to ban abortion (again) #HB5 #stopthebans #kyga19 https://t.co/dJGMYRBCpc — ACLU of Kentucky (@ACLUofKY) March 13, 2019 “Kentucky politicians are relentless in their attempts to eliminate abortion access. We represent the last remaining abortion clinic in the state and this will be our fourth lawsuit in 3 years to ensure the people can get the care they need,” ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri also tweeted. (RELATED: Mother Of Down Syndrome Child Calls Ban On Down Syndrome Abortions ‘Almost Criminal’) Despite the ACLU’s challenge, Bevin vowed to sign the bill and made good on that promise Tuesday. The law remains in effect until the court weighs in on the legal challenge presented by the ACLU. “Consistent protection of the lives of unborn children is an interest of the highest magnitude of the commonwealth,” according to general counsel Pitt, the Courier reported. Counseling, parental consent, and a 24-hour waiting period are mandatory before a woman can have an abortion under state law, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Kentucky has only one abortion clinic. Follow Grace on Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.<doc-sep>Governor of Kentucky Matt Bevin (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Kentucky governor Matt Bevin on Tuesday signed a bill that bans abortions chosen on the basis of an unborn child’s sex, race, or disability. A court filing in the U.S. District Court in Louisville indicated that the governor has signed the bill, which included an “emergency clause” stipulating that it would go into effect immediately. Advertisement Physicians must now certify in writing that the patient did not request the abortion for a reason related to the baby’s sex, race, or disabilities. Flouting the new law puts doctors at risk of losing their medical license or being prosecuted for a felony, although the mother of the unborn child would not be targeted. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the bill in federal court as an unconstitutional restriction on a woman’s right to abortion. “Instituting laws that instantly affect critical patient care should not be a cat-and-mouse game,” the group said, asking that it be notified when the bill is signed. Another new law that bans abortions after about six weeks or when a heartbeat can be detected forced Kentucky’s sole abortion clinic, EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville, to cancel some appointments on Friday until a federal judge intervened. “EMW and its abortionists have responded with a novel claim: Women have a constitutional right to undergo race-based abortions, gender-based abortions, and disability-based abortions. In plaintiffs’ view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendment’s penumbra lies a protection for eugenics,” the governor’s lawyer M. Stephen Pitt wrote in defending the ban on eugenics-based abortions. “This is a perverse distortion of Roe v. Wade.” Send a tip to the news team at NR.<doc-sep>FRANKFORT, March 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Kentucky’s Senate voted Wednesday to pass legislation that would ban abortions driven by discrimination against certain characteristics of the preborn child, sending it to Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s desk and setting the stage for another legal battle. Introduced by Republican state Rep. Melinda Gibbons Prunty, House Bill 5 would ban any abortion sought on the basis of the baby’s race, sex, color, national origin, or disability. Abortionists would be required to certify they were unaware of any such motive before aborting. Violators would be guilty of a Class D felony (punishable by 1-5 years in prison), see their medical licenses revoked or suspended, and be potentially liable for civil damages. The state House voted 67-25 to pass the bill last month, and now the Senate has passed it 32-4, CBS affiliate WKYT reports. “All human life has intrinsic value,” Prunty declared. Last month she argued that the bill would simply extend to the preborn the “15 clauses that protect the sanctity of life and civil rights” in current law. Also last month, University of Notre Dame developmental psychologist and public policy fellow Mary O’Callaghan testified before the House Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection that an estimated 70% of Down syndrome-diagnosed pregnancies end in abortion. “Make no mistake, preventing these children’s births through abortion is prenatal screening’s ultimate goal,” she warned. The left-wing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) quickly announced it would be suing to block the law from being enforced, with ACLU of Kentucky staff attorney Heather Gatnarek calling it a “thinly veiled effort of the Kentucky General Assembly to advance their anti-abortion agenda under the guise of an anti-discrimination bill” that “will do nothing to improve the lives of Kentuckians with disabilities.” Bevin took to Twitter to respond to the ACLU with defiance. “Bring it!” he wrote. “Kentucky will always fight for life.” Two days earlier, Bevin wrote an op-ed blasting Democrat Attorney General Andy Beshear for refusing to defend Kentucky’s previous pro-life laws from legal challenge, vowing that his own legal team will continue to “fight with all of our intellect, our talent, and our heart to defend the innocent.” The battle between Kentucky and the ACLU may ultimately prove to be moot, as the law’s fate could be decided much sooner if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to hear arguments regarding a 2016 Indiana law that includes the same limits.<doc-sep>
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Tuesday signed into law an anti-abortion measure that blocks women from ending their pregnancies due to the gender, race, or disability of the fetus. The measure is already facing a federal lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argues the state is blocking a woman’s right to the procedure because it “disapproves of her reason,” The Associated Press reported. ADVERTISEMENT State law now requires doctors to certify in writing that their patient — to their knowledge — did not want to end her pregnancy over concern about the fetus's sex, race, color, national origin or disability. Doctors that violate the law would risk losing their medical license or facing felony prosecution. Women receiving the procedure would not face penalties, AP noted. The ACLU lawsuit was filed on behalf of the only abortion clinic in the state — EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. Bevin’s legal team has filed a response to the lawsuit, calling it a “perverse distortion” of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. “EMW and its abortionists have responded with a novel claim: Women have a constitutional right to undergo race-based abortions, gender-based abortions, and disability-based abortions. In [the] plaintiffs’ view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendment’s penumbra lies a secret protection of eugenics,” the legal team responded. Supporters of the bill, including its lead sponsor, Kentucky state Rep. Melinda Gibbons Prunty (R), say it prevents fetuses from being discriminated against because of their disability, gender or race. Prunty said abortions in this cases are “reminiscent of the social evil of eugenics.” The bill is one of two anti-abortion measures passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature that Bevin has signed into law this month. The governor on Friday signed into law a fetal “heartbeat” law that would have banned abortions six weeks into pregnancy. Shortly after Bevin signed the bill, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to block the law. Judge David Hale from the Western District of Kentucky ruled that the law was potentially unconstitutional and delayed its implementation for at least 14 days until a hearing can be held. The law, one of the strictest pieces of anti-abortion legislation in the country, bans the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The ACLU filed an additional lawsuit over that measure, arguing that many women don’t even know they are pregnant by six weeks into their pregnancy. The civil rights groups said the bill would ban 90 percent of abortions in the state, AP reported. Kentucky is one of a number of states debating "heartbeat" bills. Both Ohio and Iowa have had similar legislation approved by their state senates this month.