Activists renew push to repeal Kentucky's near-total abortion ban

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Abortion rights supporters mounted another push Wednesday to restore abortion access in Kentucky, but the Democratic lawmaker sponsoring the legislation acknowledged the odds are overwhelmingly against them in the Republican-dominated legislature.

A near-total abortion ban has been in place in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The so-called trigger law banned abortions except when carried out to save the mother's life. It does not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

The bill unveiled Wednesday by Democratic Rep. Lindsey Burke would roll back Kentucky's abortion laws to the time before Republicans claimed majority status in the House after the 2016 election. Since then, GOP lawmakers who dominate the legislature have passed a series of bills putting more restrictions on abortion, culminating in the near-total ban under the trigger law — which passed in 2019 and took effect when Roe v. Wade was struck down.

Republican supermajorities in Kentucky's legislature skipped over the abortion issue last year and so far have not taken up abortion-related measures in this year's session, which continues until mid-April.