FRANKFORT, Ky. — A young woman who dominated the discussion about abortion during Kentucky’s campaign last year stepped forward again Tuesday to call on lawmakers to relax the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Kentucky
Campaign advocate for abortion rights makes plea for Kentucky lawmakers to relax abortion ban
She teamed with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and the bill’s lead sponsor to try to generate momentum, but its fate ultimately will be decided by Republican supermajorities in the legislature. The prospects for carving out more exceptions appear to be uncertain as GOP lawmakers wrangle with the issue.
Duvall, now a college senior in her early 20s, became pregnant as a seventh grader but ultimately miscarried. Her stepfather was convicted of rape. She recounted those traumatic events in a Beshear campaign ad attacking his Republican challenger’s longstanding support for the abortion ban. The commercial put the GOP candidate, then-Attorney General Daniel Cameron, on the defensive for weeks until the November election, which Beshear won in convincing fashion.
The Associated Press does not normally identify sexual assault victims, but Duvall chose to be identified and has spoken out publicly about what she experienced and its connection to the debate over abortion.
Turning her attention to winning over the legislature on Tuesday, Duvall noted that under current Kentucky law she would have had to carry her pregnancy to term.
“There are women and girls across Kentucky right now who are dealing with the same trauma that I went through,” she said. “Those women and girls need their choices. This bill will provide those.”
The debate about loosening Kentucky’s abortion ban comes after Republicans spent years adding restrictions to the procedure. Once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a state trigger law passed years before took effect. It bans abortions in Kentucky except when carried out to save the life of the mother.
Since this year’s legislative session convened last week, prominent Republicans have talked about how it’s a deeply personal issue for their colleagues. House Speaker David Osborne recently referred to abortion as a “hotly debated issue” with “lots of strong opinions” among GOP members.
Democratic state Sen. David Yates, the lead sponsor of the new exceptions bill, denounced Kentucky’s abortion law as among the nation’s most restrictive. His legislation would provide “a very small step in the right direction for a very limited number of victims that we can help,” he said Tuesday.
Kentucky is one of 14 states currently enforcing a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Two more have similar bans on hold in court. And two others have bans that kick in when cardiac activity can be detected –- at about six weeks gestational age and before women often realize they are pregnant.
Several of the laws were adopted when the U.S. Supreme Court still found a nationwide right to abortion under the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and took effect only after that precedent was overturned with the new ruling in 2022.
The laws in states with the deepest restrictions are divided over the exceptions. Most allow abortion when the woman’s life is in immediate danger, though a recent ruling said that Texas does not have to do so. Some have them for pregnancies caused by rape or incest and some do not. A few states allow abortion in the case of rape but not incest. There are also contrasting policies over whether abortions are allowed when there is a fatal fetal anomaly.
In Kentucky, abortion access remained virtually shut off after the state’s Supreme Court refused to halt the ban last year. The justices, however, ruled on narrow legal issues and left unanswered larger constitutional questions about whether access to abortion should be legal. In 2022, Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion.
Last month, a woman in Kentucky sued demanding the right to an abortion. But her attorneys later withdrew the lawsuit after the plaintiff learned her embryo no longer had cardiac activity.
Beshear, an abortion-rights supporter, said Tuesday he would immediately sign the new exceptions bill if it reaches his desk. The rape and incest exceptions would ensure that “those that have been harmed and violated in the worst of ways have options,” the governor said.
In comments echoing her hard-hitting message for Cameron last year, Duvall called on lawmakers to think about the “real world implications” of the current abortion ban.
“I’m here with a clear message to say that unless you’ve been in this position you have no idea what any woman or girl is currently going through,” she said Tuesday. “So there should be options. The legislators shouldn’t feel entitled to force victims who have stories like mine to carry a baby of their rapist.”
Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Ohio tornado warnings: what residents should know
Severe storms June 17 in Ohio: know tornado watch vs. warning, safety steps, shelters and alerts.
A tornado was confirmed to have ripped through the Florence area during the overnight storms June 18.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington released a statement June 20 saying a tornado traveled eastward 6.2 miles across the Northern Kentucky city, 10 miles south of Cincinnati. It had estimated peak winds of 100 mph, which classifies it as an EF1 “moderate” tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
The tornado’s path goes mostly through residential areas, and the first evidence was found on Landings Way where several trees were snapped at their trunks, the weather service reported.
The tornado progressed east, crossing Interstate 71/75 and then seemingly dissipating on Tallwood Circle where multiple large branches were downed, the final known instance of damage.
Along the way, the tornado uprooted multiple trees and snapped branches, damaged several buildings and businesses, and snapped a large power pole near the intersection of U.S. 42 and Dream Street, according to the weather service.
How many tornadoes have been confirmed in Greater Cincinnati, beyond?
As of 1 p.m. June 20, the weather service has confirmed that apart from the one in Florence, two other tornadoes touched down in Greater Cincinnati on June 18:
- An EF2 “significant” tornado that traveled about 9 miles from Dearborn County, Indiana, to Boone County, Kentucky.
- An EF2 “significant” tornado that traveled just over 5 miles from Franklin County, Indiana, to Butler County, Ohio.
A few other tornadoes have been confirmed outside the Greater Cincinnati region, including an EF2 that traveled 23.6 miles from Scott County, Indiana, to Trimble County, Kentucky; an EF2 that traveled 9 miles across Pike County, Ohio; and one in Grant County, Kentucky, just north of Williamstown.
The weather service said details on the Grant County tornado will be released later on June 20.
The Declaration of Independence’s pledge of liberty to all people was only effective if there were those willing in subsequent generations to fulfill that promise. It was not yet a matter of fact in 1776. Liberty required champions — often obscure and endangered — who forced the promise into practice. Within a generation of the…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville celebrated Juneteenth with music, dancing and a parade highlighting Black culture, history and unity.
The Kentucky Black Festival’s Juneteenth Unity Parade brought hundreds of people to west Louisville, with marching bands, dancers, community organizations and families joining together to honor the meaning behind the holiday.
“Seeing the families having a good time seeing everyone dancing, with everything that’s happening in this city and happening in the world, a moment to just take a breath and smile and relax your shoulders is what this is all about,” said Walter Murrah, executive director of the Kentucky Black Foundation.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
For organizers, the celebration is about more than a parade. It’s about recognizing the history that paved the way for future generations.
“Celebrating Juneteenth is more than just dancing and singing. It’s also reaching back and looking at the giants that paved the way for us, but also taking a moment to just celebrate our blackness because I think oftentimes it’s looked down upon, left out, overlooked, and those kind of things,” Murrah said. “And so being Black is beautiful. Being Black is, you know, it should be celebrated, and that’s what Juneteenth is about, is, you know, marrying the history but also looking ahead to what’s in the future.”
Attendees said the event created a space to celebrate their heritage and come together.
“We’re not celebrated enough, so with this being Juneteenth for freedom and unity to come together, this is the day for us to do that,” said Tara Britt.
Community members also emphasized the importance of teaching younger generations about the holiday and its history.
“It’s very important because if we don’t tell them, they won’t know. We have to get educated to educate them because it’s not in the schools right now,” said Shannon Gilbert. “So we get all the knowledge and give it back to them and make sure they’re educated because they’re the future.”
Organizers said the goal is to make sure Juneteenth is not only remembered but experienced through community celebrations like the parade.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but communities across the country have recognized and celebrated the day for decades.
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