Another legislative session has passed without a single abortion bill advancing through the General Assembly. Only one pro-life priority bill will become law.
Three anti-abortion bills were filed. Four pro-abortion bills were filed. None received a committee hearing.
Pro-life strategies splintered during the session over codifying abortion as murder, and whether a woman should be held criminally liable for an abortion. Should women who obtain abortions in violation of state law be subject to prosecution for homicide? Several lawmakers think so.
Three Republicans proposed House Bill 784, which would remove abortion as an exception in prosecutions in the death of an unborn child and allow the law’s provisions to apply to a woman who causes the death of her unborn child.
Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, and Rep. Richard White, R-Morehead, filed House Bill 714. Also known as the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, the bill recognized fetal personhood by requiring the same legal principles to apply during the prosecution of a homicide whether the victim “had been born alive” or was an unborn child.
It carved out exceptions for lifesaving procedures and miscarriage. Both are already excluded from Kentucky’s statutory definition of abortion.
“As this session ends, so does this opportunity to provide equal justice for the preborn in our commonwealth. HB 714 is dead and thousands of Kentucky’s preborn boys and girls will die with it,” said Abolish Abortion Kentucky in a Facebook post.
Abortion has been banned in Kentucky since 2022, but recent data suggests telehealth abortions in the state continue to increase as women self-manage pregnancy terminations.
Kentucky Right to Life opposed House Bill 714. The organization instead championed House Bill 646, a piece of legislation addressing the distribution of life-ending medication, including abortion pills.
Republican Rep. Nancy Tate’s bill would have:
- Made it a felony to import, distribute or traffic life-ending drugs in Kentucky in violation of state law;
- Upgraded penalties for violators and strengthen enforcement of Kentucky’s life-affirming laws;
- Targeted entities that ship death-inducing across state lines or facilitate access to those drugs in the commonwealth;
- and classified abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances.
Other pro-life priority legislation failed to advance during the session, including bills related to human development instruction in Kentucky’s schools and commercial surrogacy. House Bill 510, related to organ donation, is the only priority bill to pass through the General Assembly this year, and will be enacted on July 15.
“This session was, candidly, disappointing for those who value life and family policy—not because good people weren’t working hard, but because too many meaningful opportunities were simply left on the table,” said Addia Wuchner, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life.
“In a state where attacks on reproductive freedom have too often defined the legislative landscape, this session marks a powerful shift: Kentuckians are standing up for reproductive rights, and anti-abortion politicians are starting to feel the consequences. They know what we know—our communities are paying attention, speaking out, and refusing to go backward,” said Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.
“This session proves what we have long known: reproductive freedom is a winning issue, and one worth fighting for,” Wieder added.
Legislation championed by abortion activists also failed to advance, including:
- House Bill 22 – repealing Kentucky’s abortion bans and establishing a “fundamental right” to obtain an abortion.
- House Bill 23 – protecting people who aid or encourage Kentuckians to obtain an abortion out of state from civil and criminal liability and shielding women to self-manage abortions in-state or travel out-of-state for an abortion.
- House Bill 476 – proposing a constitutional amendment establishing a right to reproductive freedom, including abortion.
- House Bill 831 – allowing abortions in cases of lethal fetal anomaly, rape or incest.
Additionally, bills regulating pregnancy resource centers and protecting IVF while declaring human embryos are not human beings did not receive committee hearings.
A trend of pro-life success wavers post-Roe
Over the past decade, Kentucky’s General Assembly has consistently passed legislation regulating abortion. That momentum stalled in 2023 and 2024 after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Bills restricting abortion access filed in the past decade include:
- 2016
- Senate Bill 4 — Amended existing abortion informed-consent statute to require in-person counseling (PASSED)
- Senate Bill 25 — Ban on sale of aborted fetus body parts (failed)
- Senate Bill 152 — Pre-abortion ultrasound requirement law (failed)
- 2017
- Senate Bill 5 — 20-week abortion ban (PASSED)
- House Bill 2 — Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, a pre-abortion ultrasound requirement law (PASSED)
- 2018
- House Bill 454 — Dismemberment abortion ban (PASSED)
- House Bill 455 — Abortion for down syndrome ban (failed)
- 2019
- House Bill 5 — Sex-, race-, disability-based abortion ban (PASSED)
- House Bill 148 — Human Life Protection Act, a trigger abortion ban (PASSED)
- Senate Bill 9 — Fetal heartbeat law (PASSED)
- Senate Bill 50 — Required reporting of abortion-inducing drug prescriptions (PASSED)
- 2020
- Senate Bill 9 — Born Alive Infant Protection Act, a born-alive abortion ban (PASSED, but vetoed by Governor Beshear)
- 2021
- Senate Bill 9 — Born Alive Infant Protection Act, a born alive abortion ban (PASSED)
- House Bill 91 — Proposed constitutional amendment clarifying no right to abortion (PASSED)
- 2022
- House Bill 3 — Humanity in Healthcare Act, omnibus bill with 15-week abortion ban, addressing abortion pill dispensation, disposal of fetal remains, judicial bypass for minors, abortion reporting (PASSED)
- Senate Bill 321 — 15-week abortion ban (failed)
- 2023
- House Bill 300 — Prenatal Equal Protection Act, allowing abortion to be prosecuted as homicide (failed)
- Senate Bill 118 — Proposed constitutional amendment clarifying no right to abortion (failed)
- 2024
- House Bill 838 — Requiring referral of Kentucky Abortion-Inducing Drug Certification Program violations to the Attorney General (failed)
- 2025
- House Bill 90 — Maternal healthcare omnibus bill, including updates defining what is and is not an abortion (PASSED)
- House Bill 523 — Prenatal Equal Protection Act, allowing abortion to be prosecuted as homicide (failed)
- 2026
- House Bill 646 — Restrict life-ending medication, including abortion-inducing drugs (failed)
- House Bill 714 — Prenatal Equal Protection Act, allowing abortion to be prosecuted as homicide (failed)
- House Bill 784 — Allow abortion to be prosecuted as homicide (failed)
By Tessa Redmond, Kentucky Today
