The fight to uphold Kentucky’s ban on live-dismemberment abortion has taken a confusing course, but the U.S. Supreme Court clarified one leg of this fight by overwhelmingly ruling that Kentucky’s attorney general has a legal right to step in and defend the ban.
The 8 to 1decision authored by Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito overturned a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that barred Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office from joining the case to defend the law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only dissenter.
The case has been buffeted by politics. When Kentucky’s former Republican Gov., Matt Bevin, signed the Human Rights of Unborn Children Act into law, barring live-dismemberment abortions after 11 weeks of pregnancy, the state had a Democrat Attorney General, Andrew Beshear. Naturally, since Democrats don’t care about laws, Beshear refused to defend the law in court.
Defending the law then fell to Bevin’s appointed secretary of health and family service — another Republican. Then there was another election and Andy Beshear went from AG to governor. Then HE wouldn’t defend the anti-abortion law in court.
However, Daniel Cameron, a Republican, won the office of Attorney General and he jumped in to try and defend the law. But when he did that, Gov. Beshear tried to block the AG from defending the law. Camerion then took his case to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that he has the legal right to jump in and defend the case in keeping with his role as the state’s top law officer.
This is a victory, but it also shows the extent to which Democrats will go to thwart the law.
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Tags: Abortion Commentary U.S. Supreme Court
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