Beshear vetoes 15-week abortion ban, citing lack of exceptions for rape, incest victims
Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill on Friday that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, crack down on abortion medication and put up barriers for minors seeking access to the procedure.
The bill enjoyed near-unanimous Republican support in both chambers, easily passing with majorities strong enough to override the veto. Senate GOP members, along with one Democrat, passed the measure to a chorus of protests in late March.
Beshear took particular issue with the fact that the bill does not provide exceptions or exclusions for victims of rape or incest.
“House Bill 3 contains no exceptions or exclusions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest…. Rape and incest are violent crimes,” Beshear wrote. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, said that abortion is not the answer even for survivors of rape or incest. Tate called abortion the “ultimate punishment of death for the child in the womb that is conceived from a heinous crime.”
The bill’s language banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy was added from a separate proposal by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville.
The provision is modeled after a Mississippi bill currently on appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, Mississippi has asked the high court to not only uphold its 15-week abortion ban, but to also overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case prohibiting states from banning abortion before a fetus is viable, usually around 23 weeks.
Beshear projected that at least one part of the bill – one that requires physicians performing nonsurgical procedures to maintain hospital admitting privileges in proximity to the location where the procedure is performed – will be found unconstitutional.
Jennifer M. Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, also called the bill unconstitutional and praised Beshear’s veto: “Because it would effectively ban abortion in the commonwealth, H.B. 3 is the most dangerous package of anti-abortion policies to come out of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is unconstitutional, anti-science, and against the wishes of the majority of Kentuckians who want access to safe and legal abortion.”
Income tax cut vetoed
Beshear also vetoed a bill that could completely eliminate Kentucky’s personal income tax on Friday, saying it would “threaten Kentucky’s future economic security.”
House Bill 8 would radically alter Kentucky’s tax structure, as it envisions eliminating the source of 40% of the state’s tax revenue.
Whether or not the personal income tax rate drops in a given year is dependent on a formula that takes into account actual revenues and expenses as well as the state’s Budget Reserve Trust Fund (or ‘rainy day fund’) and. The formula allows the income tax to drop in 0.5% increments if at the end of the fiscal year the actual revenues exceed expenses plus the dollar value of a 1% drop in income tax. Another requirement for that drop to take place is that the state maintain a Budget Reserve Trust Fund equivalent to 10% of the actual revenue drawn in a given fiscal year.
Fiscal analysis from the state on sponsor Sen. Chris McDaniel’s latest version of House Bill 8 indicated that the legislation will create a negative impact of over $800 million to state coffers in lost tax revenue. The state is currently running on a historic budget surplus.
The measure has been supported by one of the state’s most powerful lobbying groups, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and has been touted by its supporters as a way to ease the tax burden on Kentuckians and attract more middle- to high-earners to the state.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said as much on Thursday.
“We have not grown at the national average, and that’s been proven by our most recent census. We need to grow faster, the states that are growing faster are the states (where) money is so transferable and movable,” Stivers said.
Kentucky Democrats and other observers say the bill creates a bleaker future for the state’s ability to provide key services.
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Director Jason Bailey called it the “most fiscally destructive legislation ever considered in the commonwealth.” He wrote that the bill creates “perverse incentives” for the state, making it prioritize savings and keeping room for future tax cuts over addressing “critical needs,” and could also pressure the state into raising the sales tax on now-untaxed goods or services.
“In effect, these mechanisms make a goal out of failing to invest in Kentucky communities,” Bailey wrote.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 4:59 PM.
