Kentucky Supreme Court set to weigh statewide abortion bans

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The future of abortion rights in Kentucky reaches a defining moment Tuesday when the state's highest court hears arguments over a sweeping abortion ban put in place by the Republican-led legislature.

The case before Kentucky's Supreme Court is the first legal test since voters in Kentucky and three other states signaled their support for abortion rights in last week's midterm election. Kentuckians rejected a ballot measure that would have denied abortion rights in the state's Constitution.

“Its defeat –- at the least –- keeps alive the plaintiffs’ claim that the Kentucky Constitution protects a woman’s right to choose,” University of Louisville law professor Samuel Marcosson said ahead of the court hearing. “The outcome doesn’t establish that there is such a right; that remains a question for the court depending on their view of the scope of the Kentucky constitutional right to privacy.”

The Kentucky justices will review a challenge to the state's trigger law that banned nearly all abortions, taking effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June by the U.S. Supreme Court. Approved in 2019, the law carved out narrow exceptions to save a pregnant woman’s life or to prevent disabling injury. There are no exceptions for rape or incest victims.