After Dobbs, Kentucky Republicans promised to support kids and families. They didn’t. | Opinion

On the day that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, the Republican Party of Kentucky posted an image on social media celebrating the Dobbs decision, with the caption: “As a post-Roe era begins, KYGOP is committed to working to build a culture of life that embraces & supports children, mothers, and families.”

Now that the 2023 legislative session is over, we know that was all talk. The Republican Party of Kentucky, which campaigns on the slogan “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” failed to keep its promise to make it easier to carry, birth, and raise kids in Kentucky. The first babies conceived post-Dobbs are being born now, and the Republican supermajority in Frankfort has this message for them: good luck, kid. You’re on your own.

This despite enormous challenges. Kentucky’s preterm birth rate is 12%, earning an F from March of Dimes; the infant mortality rate is 6.2 per 1,000, higher than the national average; the average birth costs more than $2,800 out of pocket for those with private insurance; and childcare runs an average of $6,411 per year in Kentucky. When given the chance, the legislature did nothing to lower these numbers.

Left on the table—or rather, in the Committee on Committees, where bills go to die — were a plethora of bills designed to address issues exacerbated by a near-total abortion ban, ranging from maternal health to paid leave to pre-k.

Several bills would have meaningfully expanded health insurance coverage to give every baby the best shot at a healthy start: House Bill 286 would have made pregnancy a condition that triggers a special enrollment period so all moms get prenatal care and HB 275 would have required Medicaid coverage for doula services proven to improve birth outcomes.

HB 270 would have removed sales and use taxes on necessities including breast pumps, baby bottles, and diapers, while HB408 would have required insurance coverage for breastfeeding equipment and some therapeutic infant formulas.

Others would have given policymakers and practitioners critical information: HB 268 would have established an advisory committee to improve perinatal outcomes in Kentucky and HB233 would have mandated training for health care providers on maternal health disparities, since Black women are three to four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white women.

Three Republican cosponsors couldn’t even advance HB 569 to permit abortions in cases of rape, incest, and fetal anomaly. We know that the youngest patients to access abortions in Kentucky in the years prior to the abortion ban were just 9 years old, so permitting exceptions would have supported young victims of sexual abuse.

The one beneficial bill we did pass was Senate Bill 135, sponsored by a Republican, to expand access to postpartum depression screening. It’s an idea that has been introduced in previous sessions, and this year it passed the Senate 33-0, the House 100-0, and was signed into law by the Governor.

Many other good bills would pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, if only leadership in each chamber would permit them to get a hearing and come to the floor for a vote.

There has been no effort at all to grapple with a looming increase in the birthrate, with the majority of births that may have previously been terminated likely to be to women living in poverty, who already have children, with a higher-than-average rate of infant disability. Instead, burned by a loss on the anti-abortion Amendment 2 in November 2022, we saw a Republican desire to retreat from the issue entirely and turn their attention to gambling and bourbon taxes. That’s not governing. Just as the Speaker of the House and the Senate President are having trouble managing the massive Republican majorities they asked for, they are unprepared for the impending jump in the birthrate that they asked for.

The 2023 session exposed the hypocrisy of the Republican Party of Kentucky and confirmed many of our suspicions that the Republican majorities in Frankfort have no intention to “create a culture of life that supports children, mothers, and families.”

Rep. Josie Raymond, a Democrat, represents Louisville’s 41st House District in the KY General Assembly. Childcare is her single largest household expense.