Kentucky Abortion Law Post-Dobbs

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Center triggered a ban on abortion except in cases of medical necessity to prevent the death or “substantial risk of death” or “to prevent the serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ of a pregnant woman.” KRS 311.772. Even in these medically necessary situations, the physician is required to make “reasonable medical efforts” to preserve both the pregnant person’s life and the fetus’s viability. Violation of the law is punishable as a class D felony.