After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Illegal

Kentucky

Kentucky is enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 15-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 6-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban
  • Reason Ban
  • Telemedicine Ban
  • Trigger Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Regulation of Location
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Admitting Privilege Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Transfer Agreement Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

Kentucky law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. Rather Kentucky’s policy prefernce4 is to ban abortion to the fullest extent of the law. “Children, whether born or unborn, are the greatest natural resource in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”1 However, in 2022, Kentucky voters rejected Prop 2, which would have specified in the state constitution that Kentucky does not protect abortion rights.2

Restrictions

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,3 Kentucky began enforcing its trigger ban,4 which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy with limited exceptions.5 Although the trigger ban was subject to a temporary injunction, the case was ultimately dismissed.6

Kentucky law retains gestational bans at six weeks LMP, 15 weeks LMP, and post-viability. 7  Kentucky also prohibits D&X,8 D&E,9 and saline instillation procedures.10 Kentucky prohibits abortions sought for reasons of sex, race, or disability, but this law is temporarily enjoined.11

Kentucky continues to include requirements that pregnant people undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period and biased counseling,12 and an ultrasound.13 Except in emergency situations, physicians must also determine the probable gestational age of a fetus prior to an abortion.14

Kentucky requires that a parent, legal guardian, or judge consent to a minor’s abortion.15 Physicians are also required to make reasonable efforts to notify a married pregnant person’s spouse before providing an abortion.16 State law includes prohibitions on public funding and private insurance coverage.17

Kentucky retains targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws, including requirements related to facilities,18 transfer agreements,19 and reporting.20 Kentucky law continues to restrict the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians21 and prohibits providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.22 Providers who violate Kentucky’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.23

Historical Restrictions

Kentucky previously repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1974.24 but enacted its trigger ban in 2019. The trigger ban is now in effect.25

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Kentucky is enforcing its trigger ban. However, in November 2022, voters rejected Prop 2, which would have specified that the state constitution does not protect abortion rights.

  1. H.R. 96, 152nd Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2018). ↩︎
  2. No Right to Abortion in Constitution Amendment (to be enacted as Ky. Const. § 26A) (presented as Prop. 2, and rejected by voters, in general election on November 8, 2022). ↩︎
  3. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022). ↩︎
  4. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.772 (prohibiting both surgical abortions and medication abortions). ↩︎
  5. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.772(4) (allowing physicians to provide medical procedures to prevent the death or substantial risk of death due to a physical condition or to prevent a serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ of a pregnant person). ↩︎
  6. EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr., P.S.C. v. Cameron, RO No. 22-CI-003225 (Ky. Cir. Ct. June 27, 2022); EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr., P.S.C. v. Cameron, RO No. 22-CI-003225 (Ky. Cir. Ct., July 22, 2022); Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr., P.S.C., 2022-SC-0329-TG, 664 S.W.3d 633 (Ky. 2023); EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr. v. Cameron, No. 22-CI-003225 (Ky. Cir. Ct. June 27, 2023). ↩︎
  7. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 311.7706 (prohibiting at time of cardiac activity), 311.782 (prohibiting when probable gestational age is 15 weeks or more), 311.780 (prohibiting post-viability); see, e.g., EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr., P.S.C. v. Cameron,2022-SC-0326-I (Ky. 2022) (denying plaintiff’s motion for emergency relief and transferring case). ↩︎
  8. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.787 ↩︎
  9. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.765; EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P.S.C. v. Meier, 373 F. Supp. 3d 807 (W.D. Ky. May 10, 2019) (permanently enjoining the requirement to provide fetal demise procedures prior to D&E abortions); EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P.S.C. v. Cameron, No. 3:18CV-00224-DJH (W.D. Ky. Aug. 17, 2022) (dismissing with prejudice after the Dobbs decision). ↩︎
  10. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.770. ↩︎
  11. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.731(2); EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P.S.C. v. Beshear,2019 WL 9047174, at *1(W.D. Ky., Mar. 20, 2019) (reason bans temporarily enjoined). ↩︎
  12. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.725. ↩︎
  13. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.727. ↩︎
  14. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.783. ↩︎
  15. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.732. ↩︎
  16. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.735. ↩︎
  17. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 311.715; 304.5-160. ↩︎
  18. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 216B.015; 216B.0431; 216B.990. ↩︎
  19. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 216B.0435. ↩︎
  20. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 213.101. ↩︎
  21. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.750. ↩︎
  22. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.728. ↩︎
  23. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 213.101; 311.606; 311.772; 311.782; 311.990. ↩︎
  24. 1974 Ky. Acts at 487, 889 (repealing KRS 435.040 and 436.020. ↩︎
  25. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 311.772; EMW Women’s Surgical Ctr., P.S.C. v. Cameron,2022-SC-0326-I (Ky. 2022). ↩︎