Kentucky lawmaker justifies abortion ban by claiming “God does not make mistakes.”

Saturday Kentucky’s state legislature passed a pair of controversial anti-abortion bills.

One bill, Senate Bill 5, bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Hill reports the ban does not include exceptions for instances of rape or incest, and only permits abortions after 20 weeks if the mother’s life is threatened

The other bill, House Bill 2, requires doctors performing abortions to perform an ultrasound on the woman and verbally describe the fetus before the procedure. CNN notes House Bill 2 “requires a physician or technician to perform an ultrasound, describe and display the ultrasound images to the mother, and provide audio of the fetal heartbeat to the mother before she may have an abortion.”

Rep. James Tipton, a Republican from Taylorsville, voted in favor of both bills. Tipton claims women shouldn’t terminate problematic pregnancies because “God does not make mistakes” –

God does not make mistakes. There are unborn children that do not have the ability to speak up for their self in defense of their life and liberty. But friends, here in the Kentucky House of Representatives we have an opportunity to be their voice.

Another Kentucky lawmaker, Rep. John Blanton, a Republican from Salyersville, argued that pregnancies created out of rape or incest shouldn’t be exempt because his great-grandmother was raped:

If my great-grandmother had had an abortion, I wouldn’t be here today. So I have a personal connection to these bills.

Rep. Joni Jenkins, a Democrat from Louisville, and a nurse, argued a 20-week abortion ban would place the lives of women with complicated pregnancies at risk:

Terminations that fall after week 20 are usually, almost exclusively in cases where something has gone terribly wrong. Women do not just decide halfway through their pregnancy, ‘today I’m going to terminate my pregnancy,’ it just does not happen that way. Let’s not put an expectant mother with a high-risk pregnancy at risk.

The ACLU is promising to sue if House Bill 2, the bill requiring an ultrasound, is signed into law. William Sharp, legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky, said:

Requiring doctors to show every woman ultrasound images and describe them to her — even against her will— violates longstanding constitutional principles, including the right to privacy, the right to bodily integrity, and First Amendment freedoms.

In a more general statement commenting on the anti-abortion legislation, Kate Miller of the ACLU of Kentucky said:

Senate Bill 5 and House Bill 2 are not about women’s health. They represent nothing more than political intrusion in the most personal, private decisions.

Both bills now head to the desk of Republican Governor Matt Bevin for final approval.

Bottom line: In Kentucky, the Republican war on women continues, because “God does not make mistakes.”