By — Casey Kuhn Casey Kuhn By — Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-what-the-abortion-debate-in-kentucky-will-mean-for-a-post-roe-america Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Kentucky voters rejected a constitutional amendment on abortion. Here’s what that means Politics Nov 14, 2022 5:15 PM EDT Across America, midterm voters in five states had abortion rights on the ballot. In all five, voters decided to protect those rights. Kentucky voters rejected a measure that would have amended their constitution to clarify that there is no state right to an abortion. The outcome hands a victory to abortion-rights supporters at a time when abortion access has been sharply limited by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, yet it does not change the fact that abortion is still outlawed in Kentucky in most cases. However, there’s a chance that could change. This week, the state’s Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the two laws making abortion illegal, after it kept the bans in place this summer and fall while it reviews the case. The PBS NewsHour’s Nicole Ellis spoke with Ryland Barton, managing editor of Kentucky Public Radio, and Tracy Weitz, a sociology professor at American University. Watch the conversation in the player above. “Kentucky has elected a lot of politicians over the years that have passed laws trying to ban abortion,” Ryland Barton of Kentucky Public Radio told the PBS NewsHour. “But I think that this vote really showed that there’s a lot more nuance here among voters.” What happens next in Kentucky “really depends on how the court ends up ruling here,” Barton added. The state’s two remaining abortion clinics are challenging the near-total abortion bans approved by lawmakers, and oral arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday. As for the nation’s post-Roe legal landscape, Tracy Weitz of American University noted that “the state supreme courts are going to have to weigh in on this issue in ways that they have never had to do before.” “This is just the beginning of the wave.” We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Casey Kuhn Casey Kuhn Casey is a producer for NewsHour's digital video team. She has won several awards for her work in broadcast journalism, including a national Edward R. Murrow award. @caseyatthedesk By — Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis is PBS NewsHour's digital anchor where she hosts pre- and post-shows and breaking news live streams on digital platforms and serves as a correspondent for the nightly broadcast. Ellis joined the NewsHour from The Washington Post, where she was an Emmy nominated on-air reporter and anchor covering social issues and breaking news. In this role, she hosted, produced, and directed original documentaries and breaking news videos for The Post’s website, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Facebook and Twitch, earning a National Outstanding Breaking News Emmy Nomination for her coverage of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Ellis created and hosted The Post’s first original documentary series, “Should I freeze my eggs?,” in which she explores her own fertility and received the 2019 Digiday Publishers Award. She also created and hosted the Webby Award-winning news literacy series “The New Normal,” the most viewed video series in the history of The Washington Post’s women’s vertical, The Lily. She is the author of “We Go High,” a non-fiction self-help-by-proxy book on overcoming adversity publishing in 2022, and host of Critical Conversations on BookClub, an author-led book club platform. Prior to that, Ellis was a part of the production team for the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series, CNN Heroes. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Human Rights from Columbia University, as well as a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School.
Across America, midterm voters in five states had abortion rights on the ballot. In all five, voters decided to protect those rights. Kentucky voters rejected a measure that would have amended their constitution to clarify that there is no state right to an abortion. The outcome hands a victory to abortion-rights supporters at a time when abortion access has been sharply limited by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, yet it does not change the fact that abortion is still outlawed in Kentucky in most cases. However, there’s a chance that could change. This week, the state’s Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the two laws making abortion illegal, after it kept the bans in place this summer and fall while it reviews the case. The PBS NewsHour’s Nicole Ellis spoke with Ryland Barton, managing editor of Kentucky Public Radio, and Tracy Weitz, a sociology professor at American University. Watch the conversation in the player above. “Kentucky has elected a lot of politicians over the years that have passed laws trying to ban abortion,” Ryland Barton of Kentucky Public Radio told the PBS NewsHour. “But I think that this vote really showed that there’s a lot more nuance here among voters.” What happens next in Kentucky “really depends on how the court ends up ruling here,” Barton added. The state’s two remaining abortion clinics are challenging the near-total abortion bans approved by lawmakers, and oral arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday. As for the nation’s post-Roe legal landscape, Tracy Weitz of American University noted that “the state supreme courts are going to have to weigh in on this issue in ways that they have never had to do before.” “This is just the beginning of the wave.” We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now