The 2019 General Assembly Session is now over and it can be rightly assessed as a major step forward for the family and for family values. Though passed bills covered many different realms, the issue of abortion and the sanctity of life is perhaps the most prominent issue of the Session.
Sanctity of Life
Four different bills addressing the sanctity of life passed this year. When you add those four to the three pro-life bills that passed in the 2017 Session and the three that passed in the 2018 Session, Kentucky has made long strides in that direction. In some sense, the Commonwealth is simply playing “catch-up” after the 10-year drought of pro-life bills under Speakers Jody Richards and Greg Stumbo from 2006 to 2016.
“It’s particularly important that Kentucky move forward at this time, when New York and other states are flexing their pro-choice muscles by advocating for infanticide,” said Kent Ostrander, executive director of The Family Foundation. “Hopefully, the U.S. Supreme Court will see the national divide on this issue and allow it to move back to a state’s rights issue, thus releasing states to set their own policy as it was before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.”
Other good bills . . .
In light of the rising intolerance displayed at many universities across the nation, a bill addressing free speech for both students and faculty on Kentucky’s college campuses was also passed.
A bill creating a “Day of Prayer for Students” was also passed, along with a bill which mandates that the National Motto, “In God We Trust,” be placed in public elementary and secondary schools across the state.
One last bill, quite ugly in nature, addressed the problem of animals being sexually abused by people who promote pornography. Because of Senate Bill 67, such behavior is now a Class D felony.
“All in all, it’s fair to say that we didn’t get everything we wanted,” said Ostrander, “but many legislators worked very hard to pass much of what we asked for.”
