Opinion – Nancy Tate: Defending Kentucky’s pro-life protections matters because every KY life matters

A few weeks ago, I took my 6-week-old grandchild to meet my 91-year-old aunt. What a unique and memorable event. It was emotional to see the older residents at her living facility react to the beautiful, sweet baby. They all instantly knew how special that child was, and I could tell decades of memories were flashing through their minds. 

At one moment, I realized the beauty in the tiny child in my arms and the elderly around me. Each was just as precious as the next, one life not more valuable than the other. That’s why I genuinely believe that every life matters from conception to natural death, and my colleagues and I in Kentucky have worked so hard to protect that truth. 

Because of trigger laws that came after Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion is illegal today in the state of Kentucky, allowing for only one rare exception. In 2023, there were 23 abortions in our state, a 99% decrease from the previous year.  

But all of our hard work is now at risk. 

Last year, Mary Poe, a pregnant woman seeking an abortion, filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking to strike down two abortion bans under the state constitutional rights to privacy and self-determination. Poe claims in so many words that the state put an undue burden on women seeking an abortion. If successful, this lawsuit would restore access to abortion in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Although oral arguments will soon be given in front of Judge Tracy Evette Davis, this case is anticipated to end up in the Kentucky Supreme Court, becoming our own version of Roe v. Wade. If it is determined to be a class action lawsuit, it will put the lives of every single preborn baby in the Commonwealth of Kentucky at risk. 

Our state’s Assistant Attorney General, Lindsey Kaiser, is defending our pro-life laws as they are and courageously refusing to compromise. We won’t expand our protections to include exceptions for rape and incest, as many states have done. Who are we to say which life is more valuable than another? I believe every life in the womb is a gift from God, and it doesn’t matter the means of conception or the circumstances – rich, poor, wanted, or unwanted. As a just society, we are responsible for protecting the weakest among us.

We need to keep educating about these issues, like my latest proposal in this legislative session. Inspired by a similar measure passed in North Dakota a few years ago, the Baby Olivia Bill mandates that a medically accurate, animated video illustrating fetal development be shown in public school classrooms at suitable age levels. 

Live Action’s Baby Olivia doesn’t mention anything regarding abortion; instead, the engaging video shares how the scientific development of the preborn child occurs from fertilization to delivery. It is informative and will help educate our youth on the baby's growth in the womb. 
 
The pro-abortion counterparts in my state will surely fight me on this educational opportunity because they want you to believe a preborn baby is not human until birth. They also want us to think we are alone in our pro-life perspectives, but I am confident we are not. Frankfort will host the Kentucky March for Life in February, giving pro-life activists a chance to stand up for life and see the many others who stand with them. 

I am very proud of the fact that we have almost wholly ended abortion in our state. We made the impossible possible, and I don’t want to see us go backward. 

Sadly, Poe has already ended the life of her baby at 8 weeks, and she is still trying to advocate for the killing of other babies in Kentucky. If the case comes before them, I pray the members of our state Supreme Court will recognize the humanity of the child in the womb, stand up for our Kentucky children, preborn and born, and rule on the side of life.

Rep. Nancy J. Tate is a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Brandenburg, representing District 27, which includes Meade County and part of Hardin County. She also serves as the chair of the Pro-Life Caucus.