NRL NEWS | August 16, 2022

FRANKFORT, Ky.  On Monday, Attorney General  Daniel Cameron filed a motion asking a federal district court to overturn its previous ruling and permanently dismiss a challenge to Kentucky’s live dismemberment law, House Bill 454. The motion was filed following a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which directed the district court to reconsider its prior ruling in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

“We’ve fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend Kentucky’s law banning live dismemberment,” said Attorney General Cameron. “We hope that the action we took  is the final step in our fight to reinstate this important law.”

In 2018, the Kentucky General Assembly passed HB 454, and the law was immediately challenged by a Kentucky abortion clinic.  After being sworn into office, Attorney General Cameron defended HB 454 on behalf of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.  But when the [Gov.] Beshear Administration decided to stop defending the law, Attorney General Cameron asked to step in.

The Sixth Circuit refused the Attorney General’s effort, and Attorney General Cameron took his case to the United States Supreme Court.  In March, the Supreme Court ruled he could defend the law.

Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision, Attorney General Cameron filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, asking the court to allow the case to be reheard. The Sixth Circuit agreed and sent the case back to the district court.

Attorney General Cameron’s motion explains that the district court should permanently dismiss the case in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs.

Read more.

April 4, 2022 | Elizabeth Kuhn, Ky Office of the Attorney General News

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 4, 2022) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron today filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asking the court to rehear a challenge to Kentucky’s law prohibiting live dismemberment abortions (HB 454). The petition was filed following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that Attorney General Cameron can continue to defend HB 454 on behalf of the Commonwealth.

“In an 8-1 decision, the highest court in our land recognized our ability to defend Kentucky’s law banning live dismemberment abortions, and today we took the first step to continue our defense,” said Attorney General Cameron. “We will fight for as long as it takes to ensure this important law is enforced in Kentucky.”

In 2018, the Kentucky General Assembly passed HB 454, and the law was immediately challenged by a Kentucky abortion clinic. After being sworn into office, Attorney General Cameron defended HB 454 in court on behalf of the Beshear Administration. But when the Beshear Administration decided to stop defending the law, Attorney General Cameron asked to step in. The Sixth Circuit refused the Attorney General’s effort, and Attorney General Cameron took his case to the United States Supreme Court. In March, the court ruled that he can defend the law.

Read more. Read the Petition.

By Dave Andrusko, NRLC Communications | March 3, 2022

The Supreme Court [has] agreed with Kentucky’s Attorney General that he should be allowed to defend “The 2018 Human Rights of the Child Act”.

Kentucky’s H.B. 454 prohibits live dismemberment abortions that “will result in the bodily dismemberment, crushing, or human vivisection of the unborn child” when the unborn child is 11 weeks or older.

“The justices ruled 8-1 in favor of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the top legal officer in the state, in his appeal of a lower court’s rejection of his request to intervene in the litigation,” wrote Andrew Chung. The lone dissenter was Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The issue before the justices was not the constitutionality of the law. The question, rather, was  whether Cameron would be allowed to intervene to defend HB 454.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the 38 page opinion.

Background

[The] EMW Women’s Surgical Center [and the ACLU] immediately challenged Kentucky’s law, passed in 2018. As for Cameron’s request to be allowed to defend HB 454, “It argued that Cameron should not be able to take the case further because the state attorney general’s office previously agreed to be bound by the lower court’s final judgment and then did not pursue an appeal,” according to Chung...

Newly elected Cameron appealed to the 6th Circuit which ruled he waited too long. Cameron then appealed to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments were held in October 2021.

Read more.

For more background, see the KRLA Forum Dismemberment-Law-Appeal category.

Attorney Matt Kuhn, shown center in a gray jacket enjoying the March 1 KRTL Rally, argued the case before SCOTUS.

Promises Made Promises Kept…

Attorney General Cameron vowed from day one to defend the laws of our Commonwealth and he has not wavered in his promise. Over a year ago we stood on the steps of the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he pledged his commitment — to defend, if necessary, HB 454 -The 2018 Human Rights of the Child Act banning live dismemberment abortions, all the way to the US Supreme Court. Today he kept that promise.

As Kentucky Right to Life Executive Director, it was an honor to stand at the Supreme Court of the United States representing ProLife Kentuckians in support and prayer for General Cameron, Deputy Solicitor Matt Kuhn, and the entire legal team as they defended the “right to intervene” on behalf of Kentucky’s ProLife law that passed by an overwhelming majority of the Members in 2018. I am very proud of my former colleagues, especially the 106 of 138 members who courageously voted to end this particularly gruesome form of abortion that brutally extinguishers the life of an unborn child.

- Addia K. Wuchner, Executive Director, Kentucky Right to Life and former State Representative-Boone Co., Kentucky

See lots more pictures on our Facebook page!

You can read the transcript of the Argument here and listen to the audio here.

Thank you to all who attended the Oct. 6 Press Conference!

Despite some rain, AG Cameron encouraged pro-lifers with his positive message and answered all the questions of the media. See the slide show and full video here!

We are counting down the days! On October 12 Attorney General Cameron and his team will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to defend Kentucky’s ProLife Law banning live dismemberment abortions.

KRTL’s Executive Director, Addia Wuchner, was the sponsor of The Human Rights of the UnBorn Child Act - banning live dismemberment along with each member of the 2018 Ky General Assembly who cosponsored and worked to pass HB454. We are grateful to AG Cameron and his team for their commitment to defend the laws of Kentucky extending dignity and respect to the unborn child.

For full background on this case see this page. The Law was originally passed during the Bevin administration, and defended by Gov. Bevin’s administrative team of attorneys. When our new governor entered office, it became impossible to defend the case, since his AG determined to drop it. It had been in the court system since the spring of 2018.

An excellent summary of the legislation history is on AG Cameron’s media statement as well.

On Monday, June 14, Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a brief before the United States Supreme Court in support of his defense of House Bill 454, Kentucky’s law prohibiting live-dismemberment abortions. Read his full statement here.

A year and a half ago the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court heard the arguments for and against HB454. A media event organized by our current executive director raised public awareness about the legal case, how babies are aborted, and AG Cameron’s defense of the Ky law. At that news conference AG Cameron promised to pursue the case to SCOTUS if the Appeal was denied, which it was about this time last year. Learn more here. Following is a statement by Addia Kathryn Wuchner on AG Cameron’s bold stand.

As a former Kentucky state representative and the author and sponsor of ‘HB 454, The Human Rights of the Child Act Banning Live Dismemberment Abortions,’ and as Executive Director of Kentucky Right to Life, we are grateful and stand in full support of Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his unwavering commitment to the defense of life.

In January 2020, outside the US Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, at our joint press conference, AG Cameron publicly affirmed that he would defend human life and appeal the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. Thank you for being a leader of integrity and a man of your word!

HB 454 banning live dismemberment abortions in Kentucky reflects the judgment of the citizens of our Commonwealth that certain abortion practices are so barbaric and gruesome, they warrant exclusion from a civilized society.

Without a doubt, ultrasound affirms that “by the end of 10 weeks, the unborn child has fingers, hands, arms, toes, feet, legs, eyelids, and ears” — confirming that the unborn child is in fact a human being, and affirms our work in defending the ‘human rights’ of the child.

When we look at all the human rights injustices that deform our society and culture today, we are paralyzed in moving forward to address any of them, until we resolve the greatest human rights issues of our day: the basic right to life and the human rights of every child.

Further notes

• Many people do not know that Dilation and Evacuation Abortion is a surgical procedure during which the limbs and torso of a live, in-utero fetus are torn off by the abortionist's forceps, and the skull crushed. The fetus feels pain as early as 12 weeks, and the D&E abortion is performed beginning at 13 weeks.
• In 2018 when the ‘Dismemberment Abortion’ Legislation passed, science had ascertained that pain was felt by a fetus as early as 20 weeks. In 2017 the “Pain Capable” Law was passed in Ky, limiting the procedure of abortion to 20 weeks. The 12-week threshold was reported by the American College of Pediatricians earlier this year.
• Did you know that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers at times facilitate a D&E abortion to deliver baby parts for use by research labs? This controversy was initially publicized by ABC News in 2000 and then further exposed by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress in a series of videos starting in mid-2015, and his revelations landed him in a legal quagmire that continues today.
• The practice of using baby body parts in research, funded by taxpayers and the federal government, was restricted by former President Trump. His policy was repealed this past April, as reported on the KRLA Timeline.
• Read more about Ky’s Dismemberment Law on this website here and here.

Updated October 30, 2020

AG Cameron Appeals Dismemberment Case to SCOTUS!

Read more.

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Updated October 28, 2020

Petition for En Banc hearing denied by 6th Circuit Court

In mid-July the Appeals Court rejected AG Cameron’s petition for a rehearing by the full bench. With so many other issues, there has been no further action taken on this case. We continue to watch for a new development.

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June 18, 2020 | Elizabeth Kuhn | Kentucky.gov

Attorney General Daniel Cameron today continued his unwavering defense of the unborn by asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to rehear a case involving a Kentucky law that bans live-dismemberment abortions. Attorney General Cameron tendered a Petition for Rehearing asking the case to be reheard en banc by all 16 judges of the court.

House Bill 454, known as the Human Rights of Unborn Children Act, was passed in 2018 by the General Assembly and requires abortion providers to ensure that an unborn child dies before beginning the gruesome dismemberment abortion procedure. The bill does not ban the controversial abortion procedure, but, instead, requires that the procedure is performed in a more humane manner. The bill was passed with bipartisan support and was immediately challenged by the ACLU on behalf of EMW Women’s Surgical Center.

“We’re exhausting every possible option to ensure that this law continues to be defended and is ultimately enforced,” said Attorney General Cameron. “The law extends compassion and dignity to the unborn by ensuring they are not subjected to the horror and pain of the dismemberment process while still alive. We would never allow the dismemberment of any other living being, and we are going to continue fighting, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, so that it can’t happen to unborn children (KRLA emphasis).”

Read more.

Dismemberment Abortion is what it is. The arms, legs and torso are torn off and the head is crushed to abort the living child. Yet, as destructive as this IS, somehow the body parts of pre-born babies are harvested for medical research, as was exposed by the Center for Medical Progress beginning in 2015.

The Courier-Journal did not have an extensive article celebrating the June 2nd Court of Appeals decision which said Kentucky’s passage of HB454 was unconstitutional. As well, the brief article was never linked from the home page. An excellent article was posted in the National Right to Life News.

Our pro-life General Assembly passed HB454 in 2018 to make D&E abortion illegal. It was immediately challenged by the EMW and ACLU. When District Judge McKinley handed the victory to the EMW, Gov. Bevin appealed the case.

At the Appeals Court hearing last January in Cincinnati, few abortion supporters showed up—as shown in the media conference photo (all press, ACLU attorney, no supporters), but pro-lifers packed the courtroom and the media event. (See photo.)

The law to stop Dismemberment Abortion is not pro-life legislation; it is to uphold human dignity and to address fetal pain. AG Daniel Cameron noted in the press conference following the hearing that Kentucky would not permit this gruesome and inhumane medical procedure to be practiced on an animal— Why do we accept it for the human infant? He also promised to pursue the case to the Supreme Court if needed. We will post again as news is made.

Other states have successfully passed such legislation. The NRLC followed up with a statement on June 5th.

The Dismemberment Abortion bill that became law in spring 2018 is still in the court system. After being overturned at the District Court in Louisville last May, it was appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court. In mid-September, a flurry of Amicus Briefs were filed on behalf of EMW.

During the trial in Louisville, Defense (Ky) had argued that three methods could be used for humane fetal demise in place of tearing limbs off babies while they are alive. Plaintiffs vigorously argued that none of those— the KCl injection, Digoxin injection, nor the umbilical cord transection— was suitable, for numerous reasons. The Amicus briefs uphold the court arguments.

The first Amicus was submitted by:

• THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OBSTETRICIANS AND GYNECOLOGISTS (ACOG)
• THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (AMA)
• THE NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT GYNECOLOGY (NASPG)
• THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS IN WOMEN’S HEALTH (NPWH)
• THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF NURSE-MIDWIVES (ACNM) and
• THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC OBSTETRICIANS AND GYNECOLOGISTS (ACOOG)

Whew! That’s a lot of friends. If only these associations were friends of humankind, born and unborn.

They argue that the Commonwealth’s proposed demise methods are invasive, additionally risky, medically unnecessary, experimental, and unreliable, among other points. All of these were refuted by the Defense during the trial.

The second Amicus was submitted by numerous states, including:

• NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, HAWAI‘I, ILLINOIS, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, VERMONT, VIRGINIA, and WASHINGTON, and the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

This brief has a number of undue burden reasons.

The third was submitted by the

• SOCIETY FOR MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE

Sounds so motherly.

Its main point is that the Potassium Chloride (KCl) injection method is not feasible in an abortion clinic. This was also refuted during the trial.

For background on this case, see here. An Amicus was filed by 16 states on behalf of Kentucky last July.

The first “Baby Body Parts for Profit” video by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress was released four years ago today.

The YouTube video exposé begins with a flashback to Connie Chung reporting on ABC’s 20/20 program: “Big money is being made from the sale of fetal body parts.” That was March 8, 2000.

Her statement was followed by Chris Wallace questioning Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt* about the practice. Feldt’s comment was: “Where there is wrongdoing, it should be prosecuted.”

As you can see from the narrative captured from the program, Wallace wants to know why a special syringe is used if a woman agrees to donate her fetus. Read the entire transcript here.

The practice of changing the abortion procedure, lengthening it, to get fetal parts, was furthered confirmed by the Center for Medical Progress investigation. David Daleiden who had formerly worked for LiveAction followed the lead of 20/20.

The ABC exposé was nearly 20 years ago; Daleiden’s was in 2015. Yet, just last month on June 18, Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley sent a letter to AG Barr and FBI Director Wray, demanding to know what has become of the fetal tissue (used to be “fetal body parts”) probe. They set a deadline of July 2 to hear a response. That was almost two weeks ago.

Maybe this will be the day we find out if justice will be served to those who broke laws, profiting from sales of human body parts, changing abortion procedures, and breaking other applicable laws including:

• Laws protecting human research subjects and patient privacy
• Laws regulating anatomical gifts for transplantation, therapy, research and education
• Laws protecting late-term and born-alive infants
• Laws pertaining to public funding for fetal tissue research and abortion providers.

For any who desire to read more in retrospect, the following links are provided. We also want to note that this subject matter is strongly related to Dismemberment Abortion.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp is pushing for an end to Planned Parenthood’s harvesting of aborted baby body parts for sale | Breitbart.com 17 July 2015

Pelosi picks six strong abortion rights supporters for the GOP-led panel on Planned Parenthood, “setting up a showdown over the already-controversial probe” | TheHill.com 04 November 2015

Officials from California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office – a longtime financial supporter of Planned Parenthood – ordered a search of Daleiden’s apartment… | Breitbart.com 06 April 2016

On October 7, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Res. 461, which created the Select Panel on Infant Lives and empowered the panel to investigate issues including “Federal funding and support of abortion providers,” as well as all “relevant matters with respect to fetal tissue procurement.” The Panel Chairman, Congressman Marsha Blackburn, has scheduled a hearing to explore information about the pricing of the tissue and whether abortion clinics and middleman businesses were making a profit from the transfer of fetal tissue. | Docs.House.gov (date .Pdf posted not known)

The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives Final Report (commentary) | ConcernedWomen.org 21 February 2017 | The 470-page Report

Trump Admin Cancels FDA Contract to Purchase Body Parts of Aborted Babies for Tax-Funded Research | LifeNews.com 25 September 2018

Trump’s NIH to spend $20 million “to develop or further refine ethical alternatives to fetal tissue research” | NationalRightToLifeNews.org 11 December 2018

NIH Director: Aborted Fetal Tissue Will ‘Continue to Be the Mainstay’ for Research | Breitbart.com 18 December 2018

President Trump Cancels $2 Million Contract to Purchase Body Parts of Aborted Babies for Research | LifeNews.com 05 June 2019

Lindsey Graham-Chuck Grassley questions to AG Barr and FBI Director Wray | Judiciary.Senate.gov 18 June 2019

* Gloria Feldt was PP president from 1996-2004. “When Feldt became president in 1996 Planned Parenthood’s abortion income was about $50 million. In 2004 the abortion income rose to $104 million. In 1996 abortion accounted for 27.6 percent of clinic income. At the end of her tenure it accounted for more than 36 percent of clinic income. During Feldt’s presidency, however, affiliates across the country dropped from 147 to 122 and clinics dropped from 938 to 850.” View more.

UPDATE | July 15, 2019: On the same day that Gov. Bevin announced that his legal team filed a brief to oppose the lower court decision to overturn Kentucky’s D&E Abortion ban, an Oklahoma Judge upheld the law passed by Oklahoma’s legislature to ban D&E. The opposition has promised to fight forward. Whatever becomes of Kentucky’s appeal, a showdown at the Supreme Court looms.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 12, 2019) 

Gov. Matt Bevin’s legal team on Wednesday evening filed their opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in defense of House Bill 454 (HB 454), which bans the brutal and grotesque practice of live dismemberment abortions.

HB 454 was passed by the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support from legislators and signed into law by Gov. Bevin on April 10. The ACLU and a Louisville abortion clinic quickly challenged the law, and a U.S. District judge in May ruled in their favor.

The Bevin Administration, represented by attorneys from the Governor's Office and from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, argues that without HB 454, unborn children will continue to be torn limb from limb while still alive — a practice infinitely more barbaric than that reserved for “those who receive the death penalty and...even animals destined for death.” They further assert that the new law is in the best interest of the state because it protects the dignity of the unborn and ensures that the ethics of the medical profession in Kentucky reflect the values of the Commonwealth.

Read more.

Schu Montgomery, Opinion contributor | Published 4:29 p.m. ET July 5, 2019 | Updated 4:36 p.m. ET July 5, 2019

Even amid the languid dog days of summer, killing unborn children doesn’t subside. Here in Kentucky, dismemberment abortions, otherwise known as D&E occur more than 500 times each year.

Attempts by pro-abortionists to destigmatize dilation and evacuation and other barbaric methods of abortion are utterly shameful in a sound and civilized society. Kentucky lawmakers passed a ban on D&E, but a federal judge blocked the effort.

The once Democrat mantra of keeping abortion “safe, legal, and rare,” has been replaced with a radical insistence that abortion be permitted up to birth (even at taxpayers’ expense), while simultaneously refusing to mandate that infant survivors of botched abortions be afforded medical care to save their young lives.

Still, these massive killings are draped in euphemisms like “choice,” “right” or “reproductive freedom” (every bit a misnomer). The American public, however, isn’t buying such subterfuge. The latest Gallup poll (May 2019) has 60% of Americans wanting all (21%) or almost all (39%) abortions made illegal.

Read more on the C-J online or on the KRLA website.

A disappointing ruling against Kentucky's law to ban Dismemberment Abortion was pronounced Friday, May 10, 2019. An update to the story published May 13 includes a TV interview with KRLA executive director Margie Montgomery. Click on the image.

In the spring of 2018 the Kentucky legislature passed a law to end D&E abortions. The law states:

"Bodily dismemberment, crushing, or human vivisection" means a procedure in which a person, with the purpose of causing the death of an unborn child, dismembers the living unborn child and extracts portions, pieces, or limbs of the unborn child from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors, or a similar instrument that, through the convergence of two (2) rigid levers, slices, crushes, or grasps, or performs any combination of those actions on, any portion, piece, or limb of the unborn child's body to cut or separate the portion, piece, or limb from the body. The term includes a procedure that is used to cause the death of an unborn child and in which suction is subsequently used to extract portions, pieces, or limbs of the unborn child after the unborn child's death; …

It was further legislated that there would be no penalty for the pregnant woman and that it would not apply in a medical emergency.

A related Amicus brief may be read here. Background on the legislation is here.

Governor Bevin has promised to appeal the decision all the way to SCOTUS if necessary. Let’s work hard to re-elect our incomparable pro-life Governor!

This news has been reported in the Courier-Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and other media. We will report more information in the coming weeks.

A pro-life friend and video/graphic designer has created a very powerful work of art depicting a D&E abortion. Known as J SZ on YouTube, she notes that illustrations or graphics can at times be more powerful than photos because some people refuse to look at real pictures of dismembered fetuses. This allows them to think about it. With the Dismemberment Abortion trial fresh in our hearts and minds, it strikes a very minor chord.