KY Planned Parenthood Offers Abortions; I Dare Bevin to Fuck Up Again

Donate to these brave patriots right now. They are fighting for the human rights of every woman in Kentucky, and against the massed anti-woman forces of darkness.

Go on, Governor Wasting-Money-on-Losing-Causes, sue them.  Spend tens of millions of tax dollars you claim the state doesn't have to takes this all the way to the Supreme Court where Notorious RBG will slap the stupid right off your face.

Read and rejoice, beloveds.

Deborah Yetter at the Courier:

Planned Parenthood has begun offering abortions for the first time in Kentucky at a new health center it opened last month in downtown Louisville - a move that quickly inflamed political passions in Frankfort, where anti-abortion sentiment is strong among some lawmakers.

The news drew immediate fire from Gov. Matt Bevin, an anti-abortion Republican.

"They are openly and knowingly operating an unlicensed abortion facility in clear violation of the law," Bevin said in a statement. 

Oh, goody: Notorious RBG loves it when you commence lawsuits against legal medical care by lying, you motherfucking liar.

"We will use the full force of the commonwealth to put a stop to this. There is no room in Kentucky for this kind of blatant disregard for proper legal procedure."

A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman responded that the organization "applied for an abortion facility license and commenced services under the guidance of the Office of the Inspector General, the state office that is responsible for licensing health facilities."

That office is housed within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, part of state government. Planned Parenthood didn't say whether it had yet received the license, only that it followed the guidance of the licensing agency in beginning abortion services.

Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, or PPINK, said the decision to offer abortion services was based on women's medical needs, not politics.

"We knew we were functioning in a really important community where there's a great unmet need," Cockrum said.

She said Planned Parenthood officials considered the matter carefully before deciding to include surgical and non-surgical abortions (those induced by medication) among the health services at the new site on Seventh Street.

"It's a very important decision and absolutely you have to give much careful thought to it," Cockrum said.

Kentucky previously had only one abortion provider, a private clinic in Louisville that also operates a part-time clinic in Lexington.

SNIP

But supporters of abortion rights on Thursday hailed it as welcomed step.

"We believe Kentucky is vastly underserved when it comes to health care options for women," said Derek Selznick, reproductive freedom project director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.

And he noted that if the goal of opponents is to reduce abortion, Planned Parenthood helps achieve that through birth control services and family planning counseling it offers.

"I think they're part of the solution," Selznick said.

In a media release Thursday, PPINK said the center also offers cancer screenings, medical exams, birth control services, and testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

SNIP

But Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a Louisville Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, welcomed the news.

"Any time we have safe, legal health care services for women so desperately needed in this state, it's a step forward for women in Kentucky," she said.

Planned Parenthood, which previously operated from a  clinic on South Second Street, selected and designed its new location to accommodate abortion services. It is surrounded by privacy walls and fencing with a secured entrance.

At Louisville's other abortion clinic, patients must walk through abortion opponents who regularly protest at the storefront site on West Market Street.