Why so many prolife bills?
We must decide whether we are a "border state" or leader in the nation
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, March, 1998

If we look back 140 years, we find that Kentucky was paralyzed regarding where it should stand on the issue of the day.  In retrospect, we see with 20-20 vision — the Kentucky General Assembly should have supported states’ rights and should have opposed slavery.  Instead, it followed a path of indecision, leading Kentucky down the trail of mediocrity — it was lukewarm — it confirmed that we would live in history as a “border state” of indecision.

Today we can look back 25 years since Roe vs. Wade on the issue of our day and find that Kentucky has not yet learned its lesson.  After 25 years, the General Assembly has labored forth, and all we have to show for it is "parental consent" — something that should never have been denied!

Where are we now in light of the pervasive rationale that says, "Maybe one or two bills this session"?  "Power cliques" have done that for years and dominated this issue at a cost to the citizenry of Kentucky.  We have just begun our 26th year with abortion legalized nationally – it’s time for a change!

Surveys such as the Bluegrass State Poll of the Courier-Journal and the UK Survey Research Poll have consistently shown that Kentuckians want regulation on abortion.  In 1994, when Parental Consent was passed, Clinic Regulations and Informed Consent with 24-hour waiting period both had a higher approval rating with Kentuckians — Parental Consent 72.4%; Clinic Regulations 84%; and Informed Consent with 24-hour waiting period 82.6%.*

A total review of Kentucky law with respect to abortion rights is in order — even past due. Members of the General Assembly should examine each piece not with the mentality of a quota of 1 or 2 bills for passage — not in terms of prolife agenda versus prochoice agenda — but rather with the following criteria: “Does this bill make sense?” “Does it protect women?” and, “Does it really trample on someone’s rights?”

I believe that you will find only one bill limits abortion rights — the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. And rightly so! Even Congress overwhelmingly passed the ban only to have it vetoed by President Clinton.  (Only those feverishly protecting another agenda embrace that deathly, barbaric procedure.)

The rest of the bills are simply reasonable controls that protect women and children from an industry that has shown itself time and time again to be worthy of mistrust.

In fact, you will find that there has been a sanctimonious paranoia that has dominated this debate for 25 years.  Why, for heaven’s sake, were parents isolated from their young, pregnant daughters – without the parental right of consent — for 21 years in our state?  And why is that the only piece of legislation that has been passed and enacted to slow the prochoice juggernaut in 25 years?

In the next 20 days, Kentucky could move into the position as leader of the nation for the state that best protects women and children from the unscrupulous abortion industry. If you are like me, you are weary of "47th" in this, "43rd" in that. Let's at least be first in protecting women and children.

Anything less than honest review and passage of many if not all of the proposed pieces of legislation will relegate us once again in history as a “border state” of indecision.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst