In their own words: Where KY’s gubernatorial candidates stand on abortion

Two weeks until Election Day, abortion remains a top-tier issue in the Kentucky governor’s race.

As elected officials, the competing policy positions of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron have remained trackable. As governor, Beshear has vetoed nearly all laws from the legislature to restrict abortion, only to be overridden by the GOP super majority in both chambers.

As attorney general, Cameron has ardently defended many of those laws amid legal challenges, his ideological views aligning with the political majority: That these restrictive policies, which do not include exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal anomalies, “protect the lives of unborn children.”

Abortion was barely mentioned by either candidate during the first few months of the campaign. That shifted in September when Beshear’s camp released a television ad featuring a Louisville prosecutor criticizing Cameron for not supporting rape and incest exceptions to Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban.

On Sept. 20, Beshear released a second TV spot featuring a first-person testimonial of a Western Kentucky woman who was raped and impregnated at age 12 by her step-father.

Both ads focus on Cameron’s repeated defense of Kentucky’s abortion bans, which notably do not include exceptions for rape, incest or fetal anomalies. Currently, abortion is only lawful in the commonwealth if it’s needed to save the life of a pregnant person. Providers who violate the law can be charged with a felony and fined.

Still, Cameron was quick to call the second ad a “despicable attack,” since he’d publicly changed his position just days earlier to say he would support adding those exceptions as governor, if the legislature presented such a bill to him.

This shift contradicted his many previous statements defending the ban as-is, both as a candidate and as the state’s top law enforcement officer defending the bans in court.

When federal abortion protections were overturned last year, triggering Kentucky’s abortion ban to take effect, Cameron praised the law at the time, saying, “Abortion is, for all intents and purposes, over in the commonwealth.”

The pivot to supporting exceptions was notable for a Republican gubernatorial candidate in a red state who scored 100% on the Kentucky Right to Life’s “ProLife Responses,” earning him the group’s endorsement.

As positions change (Cameron has since redefined his stance), and as new ads drop (Beshear released a third abortion-related TV spot on Oct. 12), it can be hard to keep up not only with where both candidates stand on this consequential issue, but what information is accurate and fact-based.

That’s why, in early October, the Herald-Leader emailed six abortion-related questions to both campaigns to clarify, in each candidate’s own words, their respective positions.

Beshear provided his answers directly, in an in-person interview with the Herald-Leader’s Editorial Board on Oct. 10.

Cameron’s campaign refused to provide written answers. Instead, campaign press secretary Courtney Norris said, “Daniel Cameron’s pro-life views are well known. He has answered questions about it for years and all of the answers to your questions are in the public domain.”

To illuminate his position on the issue, the Herald-Leader has gathered a compilation of Cameron’s statements about the issue, including his comments during the Oct. 16 Northern Kentucky debate with Beshear and in an interview with the Owensboro Times, published on Oct. 18.

Abortion access in Kentucky

The overwhelming majority of abortions in Kentucky and nationally occur within the first trimester, according to the Pew Research Center and state data. Most of those are medication abortions, rather than surgical.

Before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, the federal law capped abortion protections at the point of viability, usually around 24 weeks. While those protections were codified at the federal level, therefore preventing states from eliminating access completely, Kentucky worked to make the procedure increasingly difficult to obtain, while stopping short of banning it completely.

When Roe was overturned, it allowed states the freedom to enact sweeping bans, which Kentucky did.

Kentucky’s current bans – a trigger law criminalizing abortion in all circumstances except to save the life of a pregnant patient, and a six-week ban, outlawing abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected – do not include exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities that are incompatible with life.

This latter limitation has forced pregnant women with nonviable pregnancies to seek that care out of state, the Herald-Leader has reported.

Cameron has repeatedly said of Beshear, “He supports abortion through the ninth month” and “up to the moment of birth.” This characterization is misleading and mostly inaccurate.

Roe codified elective abortion protections not up to the moment of birth but viability, which is around 24 weeks. Late-term abortions, which often refers to an abortion in the third trimester, are typically provided in cases of medical emergencies. Today, abortion at any week of pregnancy is only legal in Kentucky if it’s necessary to save a pregnant person’s life.

Last year in Kentucky, 25 abortions out of 2,550 were provided at 20 and 21 weeks of pregnancy — well before the third trimester —

In 2020 in Kentucky, one abortion out of 4,104, total, was provided after 22 weeks gestation — well under the 40-week mark of a typical pregnancy and weeks before the start of the third trimester, often around 27 weeks.

In 2022, none of the 2,550 abortions were provided after 22 weeks gestation, according to the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics’ annual abortion reports.

In total since 2017, 13 legal abortions reported to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services occurred after the 22nd week of pregnancy, according to state data.

Meanwhile, 75 girls under the age of 15 have reportedly received abortions since 2017, state data show. In 2022, the youngest girl to receive an abortion was 9 years old, according to information the Herald-Leader obtained via an open records request. State law classifies sexual intercourse with a 9-year-old as rape.

Ten pregnant children under the age of 15 got abortions last year before the ban took effect, as did 201 teens between the ages of 15 and 19.

During this campaign season, Cameron has also said Beshear wants to use taxpayer money to pay for abortions. The use of public funds in this way is already prohibited by Kentucky law.

Questions and answers

Q: Should Kentucky’s ban be amended to include rape and incest exceptions? Why or why not? Would you encourage the legislature to add those exceptions to Kentucky’s law?

Cameron, who has long defended the ban in its current form, switched his position in a September radio interview, saying,“If our legislature was to bring legislation before me that provided exceptions for rape and incest, I would sign that legislation. There’s no question about that.”

At a Sept. 26 London campaign stop roughly two weeks later, in an audio recording obtained and reviewed by the Herald-Leader, he seemed to contradict himself: “I support the Human Life Protection Act, which I have defended,” Cameron said of the trigger law.

“My point was that . . . we are in a fight with the courts right now. And so if the courts were to strike down and say that we needed to add (exceptions), of course I would sign that because I still want to protect life. But that would just be based on if our courts made that change; it wouldn’t be me, proactively.”

At the Northern Kentucky debate on Oct. 16, he said, “I’m the pro-life candidate and Andy Beshear is the abortion candidate. I’ve also said if the Legislature were to give me a bill with exceptions in it, I would certainly sign it. But Andy Beshear wants no limits on abortion.”

To the Owensboro Times, Cameron was less pointed: “We have to establish a culture of life here in the commonwealth, and I’m going to do everything I can to establish a culture of life. If our legislature, for some reason, needed to revisit this subject, and if they had to add exceptions, as the next governor of Kentucky, I’d certainly listen to our legislature and work alongside them to maintain a culture of life, and that is inconsistent with what we’ve seen from Andy Beshear.”

When asked about this issue by the Herald-Leader, Cameron’s campaign issued the following statement:

“I am the pro-life candidate for governor and support the Human Life Protection Act. If the situation in Kentucky were to change and the legislature brought me a bill to add exceptions for rape and incest, I would, of course, sign it,” his campaign said.

“I will not shy away from fighting for a culture of life in our state against Andy Beshear who is an extremist. He supports taxpayer-funded abortion, vetoed a 15-week ban, and wants to make it easier for minor children to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge. He also said he wouldn’t defend a 20-week ban on abortions.”

Cameron then defended the current health exceptions in Kentucky’s trigger law as adequate. In his statement, he mentioned his office’s brief advisory last October attempting to clarify a handful of circumstances when providers can perform abortions without risking a felony charge. Again, nonviable pregnancies, generally, are not a lawful exception currently under the law, because the health of the pregnant person might not immediately be threatened.

“I issued two advisories and have cited the provision in the law that allows for use of ‘reasonable medical judgment’ as protecting doctors’ autonomy,” Cameron said in a statement. “Both clarify that in vitro fertilization, and abortions as treatment of miscarriages, preeclampsia and ectopic pregnancies don’t violate the law.”

Beshear, at the Northern Kentucky debate: “In Kentucky, we have the most restrictive, I believe draconian law in the country, where there are no weeks. We have a law that doesn’t provide exceptions for victims of rape and incest. Children as young as nine years old. Exceptions that need to pass and should pass as quickly as possible are rape, incest and non-viability. I would like to think that our basic empathy and humanity would push us to do this and do this first.

“My opponent’s position would give a rapist more rights than their victims. It is wrong, we need to change this law, we need to make sure these individuals have that option.”

In an Oct. 10 interview with the Herald-Leader, Beshear noted how Cameron has “wavered” on his official stance. “He’s said only if he’s forced to do something, he’ll do something. He supported this law and celebrated it when it came into law. He supports a law that has no exceptions for rape or incest or non-viable pregnancies.”

And at an Oct. 21 televised debate, Beshear challenged Cameron to directly support amending the law to allow exceptions.

“General Cameron, will you look at the camera and say, “I support exceptions for rape and incest?”

Cameron refused.

When asked about this issue by the Herald-Leader, Beshear’s campaign issued the following statement:

“Right now, Kentucky’s abortion ban is so extreme that it does not provide any options for survivors of rape or incest—including children as young as nine—or women who are facing a pregnancy with fetal abnormalities,” Beshear’s campaign said. “The lack of exceptions is dangerous and extreme, and does nothing but take away options from victims of horrific crimes or the most vulnerable among us. Kentuckians have consistently rejected political extremism on this issue – most recently in the last election when they voted down Amendment 2. My opponent supports the current law without exceptions, and has repeatedly said so in debates, interviews, surveys and before the Kentucky Supreme Court.”

Q: Where should the line be for legal abortion, in terms of weeks of pregnancy?

Beshear: “I believe that Roe v. Wade had it right, and that is more access, certainly, than right now. It tried to provide a legal procedure that was then a constitutional right. Under Roe, (courts) would consistently say that a state legislature or a governor shouldn’t set an exact number of weeks, that the court would look at it with the most recent scientific evidence and make a determination (based on that standard.)

“That took it out of just an elected body and tried to put it more toward the science and medical evidence (as) it changes, (which) took it out of just an elected body. Viability has changed over time. That’s the system I think we should get back to: Where someone who is simply doesn’t say ‘X’ number of weeks.

“I think we should get back to where someone who is simply elected doesn’t say (a specific) number of weeks, but that we have a court that balances the scientific evidence of viability with what’s constitutional. Trying to get to what is the actual truth was the right and an important system to have.”

At the Northern Kentucky debate on Oct. 16, Beshear reaffirmed this point, saying, “The right way to make that decision is the way it used to be made under Roe v Wade - taking it out of the hands of politicians and ultimately allowing courts to balance access along with the most recent scientific evidence.”

Cameron: Has not answered this specific question.

To Beshear, specifically, we asked:

1. Cameron has repeatedly said you would allow abortions “up until the moment of birth.” Earlier this month, he said that you “don’t believe in any limits” on abortion. Why is this true or not true?

2. Why have you vetoed nearly all bills related to abortion since you’ve been governor, including:

• House Bill 3 in 2022, which capped abortions at 15 weeks, restricted judicial bypass and mandated a monitoring system tracking abortions statewide

• Senate Bill 9 in 2020, which would’ve given the AG more regulatory power over abortion clinics and would’ve mandated that any infant “born alive” from a botched abortion be resuscitated. A year later, Beshear allowed a second “born-alive” bill to become law without his signature.

Beshear: “I’ve been saying since I ran for attorney general that I believe in reasonable restrictions, especially in late-term abortions. He (Cameron) knows it. My track record is clear on it. But he is so wrong on this issue. He is so extremist that he has to change the conversation. We have an attorney general right now – the top cop and top prosecutor – that believes in and supported a law that would make a 9-year-old victim of rape carry her rapist’s baby, meaning the rapist has more rights than the victim.

“And, let me be clear, I could say anything, and he’d still be saying this. That’s their line. That’s what they need to scare people, and that’s what they’re doing.”

On the vetoes: “In the midst of the pandemic would have given this attorney general power over all these facilities (Senate Bill 9). I thought that was wrong, but it was also the middle of COVID. The last thing we need to be doing in the middle of a worldwide health pandemic is pitting people against each other on this issue.

On the characterization of a fetus being “born alive,” Beshear said: “For one, it virtually never happens. Number two, there are other laws in place right now that mandate you provide medical coverage to a child ‘born alive’ (from a botched abortion). Regardless of that bill, you are required to provide that type of health care.”

Beshear added: “House Bill 3 had no exceptions for rape and incest and didn’t have a nuanced parental consent (standard), where even if the father was a rapist, you would have to get consent from your rapist.”

Beshear was referring to the law’s crackdown on a procedure known as judicial bypass. It’s when a court, or a judge, acts in lieu of a minor’s parent or guardian to get an abortion. It’s a step that is only granted if there’s good reason to believe that seeking consent from a parent or guardian isn’t in a minor’s best interest.

It’s a confidential alternative that serves kids and teens in particularly vulnerable positions, including if there’s a threat of violence in their home, or if their pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

While it is accurate that HB 3 raised the bar for this standard to be met, a minor who is raped by a guardian is not necessarily required to get consent from that individual.

The amended law grants judges more subjectivity as they weigh these requests, mandating them to gauge a minor’s “credibility and demeanor as a witness” in requesting an abortion.

In turn, the minor would need to demonstrate an “ability to accept responsibility”; “ability to assess both current and future life-impacting consequences of and alternatives to the abortion”; and the “ability to understand and explain the medical risks the medical risks of the abortion and to apply that understanding to her decision.”

To Cameron, specifically, we asked:

• After months of remaining quiet on or denying that Kentucky’s abortion ban should include rape and incest exceptions, you recently publicly switched positions. Why?

• Beshear has recently called you “extreme” for not advocating for rape and incest exceptions to be added to Kentucky’s abortion ban. What is your response to this characterization?

• You’ve recently said you would only endorse rape and incest exceptions if court-ordered to do so. If a court ruling does not change the current parameters of Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban and the Legislature, of its own volition, brought you an amended version with those exceptions, would you veto it as governor?
  
  

The attorney general did not answer those questions.

Instead, his campaign press secretary gave the following statement: “Daniel Cameron is the pro-life candidate for governor and supports the (trigger law). But if the situation in Kentucky were to change and the legislature brought him a bill to add exceptions for rape and incest, he would, of course, sign it.

Andy Beshear is an extremist who supports taxpayer-funded abortion on demand all the way up until the moment of birth, wants to make it easier for minor children to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge and doesn’t believe doctors should have to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a failed abortion.”