August 1, 2022 – August 2, 2023: A Life-Affirming Year in Kentucky

From Addia Wuchner, Executive Director of Kentucky Right to Life

Today marks one year since the life of an unborn baby could be legally and willfully terminated in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We celebrate every life saved this past year. We are grateful to Kentucky lawmakers, Attorney General Daniel Cameron and everyone who has prayed, advocated as a voice for the voiceless.

We have worked over 50 years for the human rights of the unborn and the defense of the most vulnerable, yet the right to life of the unborn has been and continues to be the defining issue of our time. There is a difference between the pro-choice advocates’ message that says you can separate the mother from her child and our pro-life message that says you cannot. You cannot love the women without loving the child, nor can you love the child without loving the mother. Our message is clear that to be pro-life means to be pro-woman.

Today the ACLU and abortion advocates hosted a rally to complain about a year of lack of access to abortion and the right for a pregnant woman to terminate the life of her unborn child in the Commonwealth. The challenge we put before the pro-choice advocates today, if we truly care about Kentucky women, we must come together and seek ways to support pregnant women that provide a path for a bright future, breaking the cycle of poverty for Kentucky women and their children.

We must work together to respond to the issues impacting Kentucky women. Over the years, I have listened to vulnerable young women explaining how they felt pressured to choose between having their baby or continuing their education. Kentucky Right to Life is currently working with the private sector and with lawmakers to develop initiatives that will assist teens and college women to accomplish their educational goals and impact future generations of Kentuckians. Additionally, we are working with lawmakers to ensure women access to programs that provide critical healthcare support for a non-viable pregnancy.

Kentucky Right to Life will continue to advocate, to expand our outreach and to explore new initiatives that support vulnerable young women in crisis experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and empower women to make life-affirming decisions. Loving them both, moms and their babies, means we can do more, and we must do more.