Government should not get to make my healthcare decisions. Vote no on Amendment 2.

I’m 82 years old. I don’t need access to abortion services and contraceptives, but I care deeply about women’s access to reproductive healthcare.

I lived through many years when abortion was illegal and access to contraceptives was restricted. I remember the stories of young women who died from illegal botched abortions. Banning abortions did not stop them; it only made them risky and often unsafe for the woman.

I have been married for 60 years, have one son, have had five miscarriages, uterine cancer and a hysterectomy.

So….. I have been a consumer of women’s reproductive healthcare services. And in every instance, my freedom to consult with a qualified doctor who could help us make informed decisions — in private — was essential. The government does not belong in the middle of those healthcare decisions, no matter what the issue.

But in Kentucky, that’s exactly where the government insists on being.

There are at least 61 Kentucky statutes relating to abortion and reproductive healthcare, passed in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1998, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022. Reproductive healthcare applies to males and females, but all 61 statutes set forth government control of women’s reproductive healthcare. Not a single law regulates male reproductive healthcare.

Kentucky has banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected (usually about 3 1/2 - 4 weeks after fertilization, before most women would realize they were pregnant). The only exceptions are to prevent the death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman or in a medical emergency. No exception for rape, incest, consideration of other health issues or the woman’s mental health. Just how close to death or serious bodily injury does the woman need to be?

A woman who chooses to continue a pregnancy full term has made a choice. The woman who decides to terminate a pregnancy has made a choice. Both are possible because the woman has the choice. When a government bans abortions, the woman has lost the freedom to choose. The government has taken the authority to make the decision. It has legislated the decision.

Remember, a government that has the power to ban abortions has the power to mandate them. Couldn’t happen here? It happened in China during its “one child policy.” It happened in Nazi Germany in its program to “purify” the German race. It happened in North Korea in the 1980s. Forced sterilizations happened in the United States during much of the 20th century for various government purposes.

A government that has the power to ban abortions has the power to intervene in other reproductive healthcare decisions: contraception, sterilization, in vitro fertilization, treatment after miscarriages.

The Kentucky legislature has placed a Constitutional amendment on the upcoming ballot, which you will be asked to vote on in the November general election. The question is:

“Are you in favor of amending the Constitution of Kentucky by creating a new Section of the Constitution to be numbered Section 26A to state as follows: To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion?”

A “yes” vote means you want to amend the Kentucky Constitution to say that a woman does not have a constitutional right to an abortion in Kentucky. Period. No exceptions. A “no” vote means you do not want to amend the Kentucky Constitution to say such a thing.

I had the freedom to make my reproductive healthcare decisions, in consultation with my doctors and those I trust. I want you to have that same freedom.

That is why I will vote “no.” And I encourage you to do so, as well.

Marilyn S. Daniel is a retired attorney in Woodford County.