FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- A push is being made to give more Kentucky women abortion access.

Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, filed a petition for an abortion access bill in Frankfort Thursday afternoon. He wants to work around the committee process to try and get other lawmakers to vote on the bill.

In January, Yates introduced Senate Bill 99 to the General Assembly. The bill, also known as "Hadley's Law," would make exceptions to Kentucky's abortion ban.

It would allow abortions for survivors of rape or incest and when a pregnancy threatens a mother's life.

"I've been proud that it is referred to as Hadley's Law," Hadley Duvall said.

Duvall, who the bill is named after, is a survivor. Her stepfather sexually abused her for years and she became pregnant at the age of 12.

She shared her story in campaign ads for Governor Andy Beshear during the election.

"It took me a long time to find my voice," Duvall said. "Now that I have it, I'm using it to speak out for women and girls and to call on the legislator to bring this to the floor. How could you choose to not hear out the bill but you won't give us our choice."

Republican leadership in the Kentucky Senate hasn't assigned the bill to a committee so it cannot be considered or discussed.

"I'm sure if there had been a hearing in a vote there would have been testimony from many other Kentuckians as well, many who reach out to me every single day," Duvall said.

Yates filed a discharge petition, pushing to bring the bill straight to the Senate Floor for a vote.

"This is a please, please consider discharge in this so that we can move forward because they deserve us to fix this," Yates said.

In February, Republican state rep. Ken Fleming filed a similar bill (House Bill 711) to Hadley’s Law.

Yates said it too is stalled.

"We're stalled," he said. "So I have no other choice. I'm not trying to throw a fit or play some kind of procedural game."

Earlier this year, Kentucky's Supreme Court refused to halt the state's near-total abortion ban and another outlawing abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. The justices focused on narrow legal issues but did not resolve larger constitutional questions about whether access to abortion should be legal in the state.

Kentucky's near-total trigger law ban and a separate six-week ban were both passed by Republican legislative majorities. The trigger law was passed in 2019 and took effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. It bans abortions except when they are carried out to save the life of the patient or to prevent disabling injury. It does not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Kentucky voters last year rejected a ballot measure that would have denied any constitutional protections for abortion.

The Family Foundation in Kentucky and Kentucky Right to Life disagree with Yates and Hadley.

"They want to relegalize abortion in Kentucky," David Walls, with the Family Foundation, said. "And unfortunately, this is just a little bit of a political theater."

"This is a a last day effort in a piece of legislation that does not reflect, that has not gone anywhere this session," Addia Wuchner, executive director of Right to Life, said.

If a majority of senators vote to discharge the bill, the full Senate would then vote on Hadley’s Law.

Monday marks the last day of the session. Yates said he's not going to give up on Kentucky victims like Duvall.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.