Kentucky bill seeks to protect patients and providers after fetal homicide case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A state lawmaker filed a new reproductive health care bill in response to the recent arrest of a Kentucky woman indicted for fetal homicide, a charge that has since been dismissed.

House Bill 23 was filed Tuesday by House Democratic Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke.

The legislation seeks to prevent the criminalization of Kentuckians who seek, provide or assist with reproductive health care.

It would also protect patients' medical records from being used to investigate or prosecute patients, providers or "those offering support."

According to Burke, the Wolfe County woman's arrest heightened fears that pregnancy outcomes and reproductive decisions may increasingly be scrutinized.

Melinda Spencer, 35, of Campton, Kentucky, was arrested on New Year's Eve, Kentucky State Police said, after troopers were contacted by a clinic in Campton. Workers there said a woman came in and told them she aborted a pregnancy at her home.

Troopers began investigating and interviewed Spencer, who admitted she'd ordered the medication online, resulting in the death of "a developed male infant." Spencer then told troopers she buried the remains in a shallow grave on her property, KSP said. The news release did not indicate how far along Spencer was in the pregnancy.

According to a news release from Miranda King, the commonwealth's attorney for Breathitt, Powell and Wolfe counties, the fetal homicide charge was dismissed, citing a Kentucky statute that "prohibits the prosecution of a pregnant woman who caused the death of her unborn child."

Burke said the bill would not change the state's abortion laws, but ensures that those laws aren't weaponized to create a climate of fear that "threatens patient safety, undermines medical ethics, and erodes basic privacy rights."

Kentucky's near-total abortion ban has been in place since a so-called trigger law took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. But KRS 507A.101(3) prohibits the prosecution in the Wolfe County case, according to King.

Spencer still faces felony charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. She is also charged with concealing the birth of an infant, which is a misdemeanor.

To read the version of the bill that was introduced during the first week of the state's legislative session, click here.

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