FRANKFORT — Abortion is back before Kentucky lawmakers even as two state laws meant to restrict abortion have been struck down in federal court in the past 15 months and a challenge to a third is pending.

This time, Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have filed bills which would halt abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks into a pregnancy.

That's often before a woman even realizes she is pregnant and would amount to an unconstitutional ban on abortions in Kentucky, said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project in New York.

"It's essentially a ban," she said. "Without a lawsuit to block it, abortion would be effectively banned in the state."

A court challenge to such a law could well end up before the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort by abortion opponents to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, she said.

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One such bill, Senate Bill 9, appears to be on the fast track, having had two readings already and been assigned to the Senate Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection.

Damon Thayer, the Senate Republican floor leader said SB 9 "absolutely" is a priority for the chamber and he hopes to hold a full hearing soon on the bill. He said he would be delighted if it became law and ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court as a means to overturn to Roe v. Wade.

"It would be the pinnacle of my career," he said

Sen. Matt Castlen, a Daviess County Republican, is the sponsor with 18 fellow Republicans signed on as co-sponsors. Castlen, at a press conference Thursday to introduce anti-abortion measures, said he has one purpose for filing the SB 9.

"The purpose is to make it illegal to abort a baby once a heartbeat is detected because a heartbeat represents life," he said.

Rep. Robert Goforth, a Laurel County Republican, has filed House Bill 100, a bill similar to the Senate version.

Goforth, who announced Tuesday he will seek the Republican nomination for Kentucky governor this spring, said he doesn't view his bill as a ban on abortion.

"I think it's making people be more responsible," he said. "If they're going to engage in activity that’s going to end up in conception, they just need to be more responsible with their actions."

And he said he would be pleased if Kentucky or one of the other states considering similar measures enacted such a law and, in the event of court challenge, took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"I think may be this is something that the Supreme Court would look back on once they see there's so many of us raising this concern across the nation," Goforth said. "They could look back and say maybe we got this one wrong."

Several states have expressed interest in or enacted similar "fetal heartbeat" laws, most recently in Ohio where the Republican-controlled legislature approved such a law last year, only to have it vetoed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, Amiri said.

Ohio’s legislature taking office in a few days will likely pass a fetal heartbeat bill in 2019 - and incoming Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will sign it.

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A court struck down such a bill in North Dakota. That leaves Iowa as the only state with a fetal heartbeat bill enacted into law and that remains suspended by a pending court challenge, Amiri said.

Should Kentucky enact such a law, the ACLU is ready to challenge it, Amiri said.

And losing such a battle could be costly for the state.

The ACLU and other lawyers are seeking $1.5 million in legal fees and other costs they incurred representing EMW Women's Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky in a successful challenge to a state law the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin used to try to close EMW, the state's only abortion provider.

A judge who ruled in favor of EMW and Planned Parenthood is reviewing the request.

Amiri said a fetal heartbeat law is unconstitutional because the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that state's may not ban abortion before fetal viability, the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb, considered to be about 24 weeks.

The proposed fetal heartbeat law follows a series of three court challenges to previous Kentucky abortion laws.

In two cases, federal judges struck down the laws as unconstitutional. One required abortion clinics to have signed agreements with a hospital and ambulance service; the other required physicians to perform an ultrasound and attempt to describe it and show it to the patient prior to an abortion.

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Kentucky has appealed both those decisions to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ultrasound law was passed by the General Assembly in 2016.

U.S. District Judge David Hale ruled in September 2017 that such a law, which also requires the physician to play an audible heartbeat of the fetus to the patient, violates a physician's right to free speech.

While supporters of the measure known as House Bill 2 argued the law was meant to better inform women seeking abortions, Hale found otherwise.

"HB 2 is intended to dissuade women from choosing abortion by forcing ultrasound images, detailed descriptions of the fetus and the sounds of the fetal heartbeat on them, against their will, at a time when they are most vulnerable," Hale wrote in a 30-page opinion.

In September, a federal judge struck down a 1998 state law requiring Kentucky abortion clinics to have written agreements with an ambulance service and hospital for emergencies — rules the Bevin administration had used to try to close the state's only abortion clinic.

A separate case seeking to ban a type of abortion performed after about the 14th week of pregnancy is awaiting a decision from a federal judge following a trial last year in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

The law resulted from a bill enacted by the legislature in 2018 to ban a procedure known as "dilation and evacuation." It would make it a felony for a physician to perform such a procedure and be subject to sanctions against his or her medical license.

Enforcement of the law has been suspended while the court challenge is pending.

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About 3,200 abortions are performed each year at the EMW clinic in Louisville, according to statistics collected by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Most occur early in pregnancy, prior to 14 weeks, and involve a non-surgical method in which a patient terminates a pregnancy by taking pills or undergoes a procedure in which suction is used to remove contents of the uterus.

Last year, 526 women underwent abortions through dilation and evacuation, which involves removing the fetus through instruments.

Deborah Yetter: 502-582-4228; dyetter@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/deborahy.