A Kentuckian filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court challenging two of the Commonwealth’s abortion bans on behalf of herself and all pregnant Kentuckians seeking an abortion.
Jane Doe brings the class action to strike down the bans under the state constitutional right to privacy and self-determination.
“I am a proud Kentuckian and I love the life and family I have built here," Jane Doe said in a statement. "But I am angry that now that I am pregnant and do not want to be, the government is interfering in my private matters and blocking me from having an abortion. This is my decision—not the government’s or any other person’s. I am bringing this lawsuit because I firmly believe that everyone should have the ability to make their own decisions about their pregnancies. I hope this case will restore abortion access in Kentucky, if not for me then for the countless people in the future who deserve the autonomy to decide what is best for themselves and their families.”
The lawsuit comes just over a year after Kentuckians emphatically rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to exclude the right to abortion.
A prior lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers representing their patients was filed in the days after Roe v. Wade was overturned challenging the same bans. After a trial court initially blocked the bans, Attorney General Daniel Cameron appealed the decision and a court allowed the bans to go into effect. The case ultimately made its way to the Supreme Court of Kentucky, which issued a ruling in February saying that abortion providers could not raise the constitutional rights of their patients in cases brought in Kentucky courts.
