Yes for Life: Support Kentucky’s Pro-Life Constitutional Amendment

by Jeff Johnston | September 14, 2022 | How to Get Involved Life

Kentucky has the opportunity to protect life, keep state funds from paying for abortions, and prevent activist judges from finding a spurious “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution.

Constitutional Amendment #2, dubbed the “Yes for Life Amendment,” is on the ballot November 8. The amendment would add Section 26A to the Constitution of Kentucky:

To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.

We spoke with David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, a Focus on the Family-allied public policy organization. The group works for policies and legislation that support families and marriages; ensure that life is valued and protected; and safeguard religious freedom in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Walls told us:

The amendment protects Kentucky’s more than 140+ years of pro-life history and the Commonwealth’s pro-life laws that are currently under attack from the multi-billion-dollar abortion industry and an activist Louisville judge.

As we reported in the Daily Citizen, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry blocked the state’s abortion trigger law and heartbeat abortion ban from taking effect. The judge made the bizarre claim that human life beginning at fertilization “is a distinctly Christian and Catholic belief.”

Walls commented on that decision, saying:

When an activist judge is willing to dismiss a scientifically-proven truth that 96 percent of biologists agree with, including many who self-identified as liberal and/or non-religious, there is only one way left to protect Kentucky’s pro-life laws – passage of Constitutional Amendment #2, the “Yes for Life” Amendment, on November 8, 2022.

Kentucky’s Attorney General appealed the decision, and the injunction was overturned – with the state Supreme Court set to hear the case on November 15.

Walls explained why the vote on the Yes for Life Amendment is so important:

The intentional killing of a preborn human child is currently illegal in Kentucky, but passage of Constitutional Amendment #2, the “Yes for Life” Amendment, is necessary to keep the Commonwealth pro-life.

The Kentucky Supreme Court will hear a challenge to our pro-life laws just one week after Kentuckians vote on November 8, 2022, and two justices have signaled they will be closely watching the results.

Radical abortion activist groups like Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are fighting to overturn the state’s pro-life protections by claiming that there is a state “constitutional right” for a mother to end the life of her preborn child.

As the Lexington Herald-Leader recently reported, pro-abortion groups have raised nearly $1.5 million this year to defeat Constitutional Amendment #2. They added, “Counting last year’s contributions, PKA has amassed close to $1.75 million.”

Yes for Life Kentucky, the coalition working to protect preborn infants, has raised $350,000 in 2022, “$460,000, including last year’s donations,” the Herald-Leader wrote.

After a similar pro-life constitutional amendment lost in Kansas, passing this Kentucky amendment is critical. In Kansas, the abortion industry outspent pro-life groups by almost $4 million dollars.

Abortion supporters also spun a false narrative about what the Kansas amendment would do, and it looks like they will try similar tactics in Kentucky.

But Walls told us what the measure actually does:

The Yes for Life Amendment protects our pro-life laws by ensuring that activist state judges cannot invent a right to kill an unborn child in our Constitution. Passage of the amendment will save unborn babies; protect our tax dollars from funding abortion; ensure ‘we the people’ decide, not activist judges; and keep Kentucky’s values strong.

He also explained why he’s so deeply committed to protecting life:

We must protect all human life because humans, born and preborn, are God’s masterpieces and have inherent worth. Recognizing that inherent dignity and equality, along with the inalienable rights of all humans, is the foundation of freedom and justice in our Commonwealth, nation, and world.

In addition to The Family Foundation, the amendment is supported by Kentucky Right to Life, the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Sisters for Life, the Commonwealth Policy Center, and the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

The Kentucky Citizen, a free, downloadable newsletter from The Family Foundation, explains what’s at stake in this recent Pro-Life Edition. The newsletter answers frequently asked questions about the constitutional amendment, offers different ways to support life in the state, cites the science supporting the humanity of the unborn child, and outlines the state’s prolife history.

Yes for Life Kentucky has created a free Advocacy Toolkit to help Christians answer questions about and engage in social media to support the amendment.

They’re also hosting a Celebration and Rally at the Kentucky Capitol, in Frankfort, on October 1. Confirmed speakers and entertainment include Dr. Al Mohler, the Most Reverend John Iffert, and the Jason Lovins Band.

Related articles and resources:

The Family Foundation:

Yes for Life Kentucky:

Daily Citizen:

Photo from Static1.