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.
Mary Poe brings the class action to strike down the bans under the state constitutional right to privacy and self-determination.
“I am about seven weeks pregnant, and I have decided that ending my pregnancy is the best decision for me and my family," said Mary Poe in a statement. "I feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I cannot access abortion care here in my own state, and I have started the difficult process of arranging to get care in another state where it’s legal. This involves trying to take time off work and securing child care, all of which place an enormous burden on me. This is my personal decision, a decision I believe should be mine alone, not one made by anyone else. I am bringing this case to ensure that other Kentuckians will not have to go through what I am going through, and instead will be able to get the health care they need in our community.”
Kentuckians emphatically rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure in 2022 that would have amended the state constitution to exclude the right to abortion. A prior case filed in 2023 was dismissed when the plaintiff had a miscarriage.
A 2022 lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers representing their patients was filed in the days after Roe v. Wade was overturned challenging the same bans. The case ultimately made its way to the Supreme Court of Kentucky, which issued a ruling saying that abortion providers could not raise the constitutional rights of their patients in cases brought in Kentucky courts.
