Gov. Beshear to authorize the licensure of state’s second clinic.
Just over a month into office, Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration signaled approval for Planned Parenthood to apply for a license for their Louisville facility. Two weeks later, it was announced that the license was issued and Planned Parenthood would resume doing abortions in Kentucky.
The last time Pl anned Parenthood received an abortion license for that location was in the waning days of Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration. After Gov. Bevin took office, his administration discovered that Planned Parenthood’s license application was deficient because it lacked an emergency transfer agreement with a local hospital. The agreement has been a licensing requirement in Kentucky since 1998.
Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center sued in federal court in an attempt to overturn the requirement. The lower court ruled in favor of the abortion clinics and directed the Bevin administration to issue a license, but the Bevin administration appealed the ruling. The appeal was heard in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (Cincinnati) last August. A decision should be rendered shortly.
“Planned Parenthood is doing a ‘victory lap’ wrongly claiming Gov. Bevin was ‘soundly defeated’ because of his pro-life stance,” said Joyce Ostrander, policy analyst for The Family Foundation. “I hardly consider a 0.36 percent margin of the vote ‘soundly defeated.’ However, if Planned Parenthood calls killing an unborn child ‘reproductive health,’ it’s not surprising they call the second closest gubernatorial race in Kentucky history ‘soundly defeated.’”
