GOP representative again files exceptions bill to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban

A Louisville Republican filed a bill to add rape, incest and some nonviable pregnancy exceptions to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban Friday.

House Bill 203 from Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville, marks the third time a member of the political majority has done so since federal abortion protections were overturned in 2022.

The bill seeks to restore some rights to doctors who, “in his or her best clinical judgment” believe pregnancy termination is “necessary” for their patients, be it because they have been impregnated through rape or incest, because they’ve been diagnosed with a “lethal fetal anomaly,” to remove an incomplete miscarriage, or to treat an ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

It’s the second bill from Fleming to this end. He filed an exceptions bill last year and cited being the father of two daughters as a partial reason for doing so. The 2024 bill did not receive so much as a committee assignment.

Fleming did not respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment Friday.

Kentucky’s trigger law and six-week ban, or fetal heartbeat law, have been enforceable since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. Both outlaw abortion except in medical emergencies that threaten a pregnant person’s life. Violators the law, including doctors, can be charged with a Class D felony.

OB-GYNs have told the Herald-Leader the current bans’ narrow exceptions, often referred to as “life of the mother” exceptions, do not adequately account for the range of pregnancy complications that arise and require a pregnancy to be terminated.

Not all pregnancies considered nonviable, meaning the fetus will not survive, immediately threaten the life of a pregnant person. In the past, many of those patients were treated in hospitals. Since Kentucky’s ban took effect, doctors, nervous to be charged with a crime, have told the Herald-Leader they refer patients in this category out of state to get abortions — a form of treatment for this patient population that’s otherwise considered to be the standard of care.

Fleming’s House District 48 is politically purple. Having first won the district in 2016, he lost by a narrow margin in 2018 and then won by a similarly slim margin in 2020. He won a fourth term in 2024, and on campaign mailers leading up to the November election, he vowed to fight to add exception’s to the state’s strict ban.

The only other exceptions bill filed by a Republican since abortion was outlawed was filed in 2023 by Rep. Jason Nemes, who was majority whip at the time. His bill, like Fleming’s in 2024, did not receive a committee assignment, let alone a vote.

Democrats have likewise filed bills to add exceptions and more broadly restore abortion access, including last year’s exceptions bill from Senate Minority Whip David Yates, D-Louisville, named Hadley’s Law for Hadley Duvall, who was rape and impregnated by her stepfather at age 12. Those measures, likewise, never progressed.

This story may be updated.