By Stuart Hamilton
For almost four years now, abortion has been illegal in the state of Kentucky, except in cases in which the life of the mother is in danger. However, this has not stopped women from procuring surgical abortions or mail order chemical abortion kits from out of state. This has been the catalyst for strong debate about the best way to approach the goal of reducing abortion in Kentucky. There are two different visions of how to move forward, represented by two separate proposed pieces of legislation that were introduced to the KY House of Representatives in the 2026 session for committee approval.
A small, but growing number of people have been urging legislators to adopt what has become known as an “abolitionist” position towards abortion. From the abolitionist perspective, the law is a teacher of society, therefore we need laws that treat abortion for what it is–murder. This year they introduced House Bill 714, called The Prenatal Equal Protections Act, which, in effect, would criminalize the procurement of abortions. Under such a law, should evidence be brought forward that a woman had an abortion–either surgical or chemical–she could be arrested on charges of murdering her child.
This point of view is a strong break from the pastoral approach of the US Catholic Bishops. After 50 years of Roe, there is much work to be done to address the root causes of why women seek abortion as well as to heal the culture from the damage done by the abortion mindset. From this perspective, we shouldn’t demonize pregnant women who are in desperate situations, but work to create a sound infrastructure that provides for them and their unborn child. Moreover, many women who have had abortions in the past require psychological and spiritual healing. Such women are considered victims of the Abortion Industrial Complex, not criminals.
Consequently, until we can adequately minister to women in need of provision and healing, it would be morally inappropriate to seek to criminalize them. This is why the Church is heavily promoting initiatives such as Rachel’s Vineyard and the Walking with Moms in Need parish program. The goal is to address physical needs as well as the hearts and minds of women, in service of reversing the cultural mindset towards abortion. The next logical step, in terms of legislation, should be greater funding to provide for pregnant women and for education efforts or, if we are to criminalize something, it should be the industry providing abortions rather than the desperate women seeking them.
The latter is the objective of House Bill 646. HB 646 is designed to classify chemical abortion drugs as schedule IV drugs, making providers of these chemicals legally culpable of drug trafficking across state lines, a serious felony. The idea of the bill is to reduce abortion by attacking the supply chain, opening abortion clinics up to crippling criminal lawsuits. This would close a legal gap by providing a strong mechanism for the current KY laws to be enforced. This approach has been endorsed by KY Right to Life, it doesn’t conflict with the pastoral philosophy of the KY bishops, and is the next logical step towards strengthening current state law.
There is a further, more pragmatic reason HB 646 is preferable to HB 714. In 2022 an effort to amend the KY State Constitution to make abortion permanently illegal narrowly failed to pass. Consequently, the current pro-life laws do not have absolute constitutional protection. They could be repealed by further congressional action or, in a more likely scenario, ruled unconstitutional the KY supreme court, should a proper constitutional challenge be presented before it. It is entirely possible that should HB 714 pass into law it could provoke just such a lawsuit as it requires a restructuring of Kentucky’s homicide statutes and medical definitions. In other words, this sort of approach could dramatically backfire, presenting a potential threat to all the legislative progress we have made in Kentucky to protect the unborn.
To be clear, neither of these bills are contrary to the moral law. Abortion is, objectively, murder, and it is our hope that one day all people of good will can recognize it as such. It is a question of appropriate pastoral approach towards meeting that goal and cultural timing. There is a possible future in Kentucky where pregnant women are provided for and protected, where the spiritual, physical and psychological damage of abortion is recognized culturally, and the majority of KY citizens view abortion as not only unnecessary but immoral. The question before us is: which path seems more likely to bring us to such a future?
Archdiocese Of Louisville Family Ministries 