A new bill filed by Kentucky State Rep. Emily Callaway this week would pave the way for charging women who get abortions with murder.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Callaway's bill, titled the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, states that women who get abortions "shall be subject to the same legal principles as would apply to the homicide of a person who had been born alive," which means women who terminate their pregnancies could be jailed on homicide charges.
The push to criminalize women who get abortions comes even though Kentucky already has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the United States, as the state only offers exceptions to the ban if a mother's life is in danger and does not provide exceptions for rape or incest.
Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, however, said that he believed jailing women who get abortions would be a bridge too far.
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“While I strongly support prohibiting abortions in Kentucky, I just as strongly support helping pregnant women,” he said while urging lawmakers to not support the bill. “Pregnant mothers deserve our help, support, and life-affirming options, not to face criminal charges.”
Anti-abortion activists have long insisted that overturning Roe v. Wade would not result in criminal charges for women who get abortions, although a number of state legislators around the country have been proposing to do just that ever since the constitutional right to an abortion was thrown out by the United States Supreme Court last year.
