Kentucky governor to appeal judge’s ultrasound ruling on abortion law

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Kentucky's Republican governor will appeal a ruling striking down a state law requiring pregnant women seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound.

The ruling means doctors at Kentucky’s lone abortion clinic will not be forced to perform ultrasounds and describe them in detail while the pregnant woman listens to the fetal heartbeat. The law says women can close their eyes, and they can ask to have the sound of the heartbeat turned off. But doctors still have to perform the ultrasound and describe it to her, even if she asks them not to. If they don’t, they could be fined up to $250,000.

Lawyers for EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville said the law violates their doctors’ First Amendment rights because it forces doctors “to deliver the state’s ideological, anti-abortion message to their patients.” Lawyers for the state say that’s not true, because the law only requires doctors to “disclose truthful, non-misleading, and relevant information.”