With friends like these, who needs…

First in the Amici series

To defend the pro-life laws passed by the Kentucky General Assembly, Governor Bevin has called on his General Counsel Steve Pitt, Deputy General Counsel Chad Meredith, and his Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Adam Meier, and that cabinet’s attorneys. All these were commended during the 2019 General Assembly.

Though defending the laws of Kentucky is the job of AG Andy Beshear, he and his attorneys are instead working to overturn them!

Boom.

On April 3rd, AG Andy filed an Amicus Brief in support of Planned Parenthood and the EMW clinic in their case against the state of Kentucky regarding Transfer Agreements (TAs). It has been endorsed by 20 states who are Beshear’s amici (friends).

The brief is co-signed by certain of his staff members: J. Michael Brown, Deputy Attorney General; La Tasha Buckner, Assistant Deputy Attorney General; S. Travis Mayo, Exec. Dir., Office of Civil and Environmental Law; and Sarah Ellen Eads Adkins and Marc G. Farris, Assistant Attorneys General.

The TAs case is currently in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals awaiting judgment. So, these employees of our state are supporting those who are suing our state.

The Brief states two arguments:

1. Defendants May Not Rely On Another State To Protect Women’s Fourteenth Amendment Right To An Abortion
(You may wonder: What is a woman’s 14th Amendment right to an abortion? After the Civil War a 14th amendment was added to the Constitution: “No State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” It was to assure civil rights for former slaves. Somehow Roe v. Wade framed it to mean that its Due Process Clause includes an implicit "right of privacy" that encompasses a right to abortion. (ref)

2. The Emergency Regulation And The Bevin Administration’s Conduct Had The Purpose And Effect Of Depriving Women Of Their Constitutional Right.
    A. The Bevin Administration unduly burdened women seeking to exercise their constitutional rights
    B. The Emergency Regulation provides no benefit to clinic patients.

We will take a look at AG Beshear’s Amicus Arguments and the topic of TAs, with this article being the first in a series of six blog posts.