FRANKFORT, Kentucky (LifeSiteNews) — A ballot proposal in Kentucky aimed at clarifying the state constitution doesn’t protect a “right” to abortion failed. The news comes amid a series of disappointing Election Day results for pro-life advocates across the country.
On Tuesday, Kentucky’s Proposition 2, which would have affirmed that the state constitution “does not secure or protect a right to abortion, or require the funding of abortion,” failed by a margin of 47.62% to 52.38%.
Kentucky voters reject constitutional amendment declaring no right to abortion https://t.co/hfY8QS9K1l
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 9, 2022
Kentucky already bans nearly all abortions thanks to a trigger law that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the federal “right” to abortion established in Roe v. Wade (1973).
However, Proposition 2 would have safeguarded the state’s pro-life laws in the courts if challenged by pro-abortion groups.
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According to Yes for Life Alliance, a group that backed the proposition, the clarifying language would have stopped “judges from asserting their own preferences over the will of legislators and the voters.”
The far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has hailed the rejection of the pro-life amendment as a “VICTORY” since “Abortion is our RIGHT — and politicians don’t belong in our private medical decisions.”
The pro-life Family Foundation said in a Wednesday statement that despite the disappointing result, “the pro-life movement in Kentucky and across the nation is steadfast in its resolve to continue defending life.”
Kentucky was one of five states with abortion-related ballot initiatives in the November midterm elections.
Voters in California, Vermont, and Michigan were asked to decide whether to enshrine abortion as a “right” in their respective state constitutions. Conversely, voters in Kentucky and Montana were given the option to enshrine constitutional protections for the unborn.
In a disappointing blow to the pro-life movement, all measures to make abortion a statewide right passed while those aimed at defending the unborn failed.
RELATED: California projected to pass amendment enshrining ‘right’ to abortion in state constitution
As LifeSiteNews previously suggested, the setbacks will spur pro-lifers to reevaluate their strategies for implementing pro-life reforms in a post-Roe America.