The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, allowing laws banning abortion in several states, including Kentucky, to take effect. But social media posts falsely claim Kentucky is considering a law requiring all women of childbearing age to undergo monthly pregnancy testing. The claim stemmed from a lawmaker’s satirical amendment.
Three years before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Kentucky passed what’s known as a trigger law that set up an abortion ban to take effect whenever the landmark decision legalizing abortion nationwide was reversed.
Kentucky state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian was so strongly opposed to the proposed law that she submitted a spoof amendment satirizing it. She told a local newspaper at the time that she hoped the stunt would draw attention to the bill, which she believed was unnecessary and intrusive.
“It’s none of our business, to interfere in personal and private decisions of women,” Marzian said.
Despite her protest, the bill passed the state House by a vote of 69-20 and later passed the Senate. The governor signed it into law on March 26, 2019.
It took effect on June 24, 2022 — the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as part of its ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson, a case about a Mississippi law prohibiting most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Kentucky law makes it a felony to perform an abortion except for cases in which a doctor has determined “that such a procedure is necessary to protect the...
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