FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 27, 2020) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron today released the following statement regarding Kentucky’s abortion providers continuing to perform abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today, I’m calling on CHFS Acting Secretary Eric Friedlander to certify, pursuant to KRS 15.241, that Kentucky’s abortion providers are violating his ban on elective medical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic by continuing to perform abortions. Kentucky’s current ban on elective medical procedures exists to further the mandated policy of social distancing and to help conserve medical resources for use in fighting COVID-19.
Acting Secretary Friedlander is on the front lines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am confident that he understands, better than anyone, the necessity of ending abortion procedures during this health crisis. His certification will immediately trigger action by our office to stop elective procedures during the pandemic.
Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures, unless the life of the mother is at risk, to protect the health of their patients and slow the spread of the coronavirus.”
On March 14, Governor Beshear recommended that hospitals cease performing elective procedures. Subsequently, on March 23, Acting Secretary Friedlander ordered all “non-emergent, non-urgent in-person medical, surgical, dental, and any other healthcare practice or procedure” to cease. As explained by Acting Secretary Friedlander, the outbreak of COVID-19 is “a public health emergency.” Therefore, “[a]ggressive social distancing measures have been mandated by emergency order as a necessary measure to limit and contain the spread of the COVID-19 infection.”