Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron on Friday emphasized his support for a statewide ban on abortion procedures during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Cameron released a statement after Planned Parenthood sued the state of Texas for deeming abortions a non-essential procedure, thus effectively halting abortions during the pandemic. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has already halted abortions in the state due to the coronavirus threat.
“Kentucky’s current ban on elective medical procedures exists to further the mandated policy of social distancing and to help conserve medical resources for use in fighting COVID-19,” Cameron said. “Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures, unless the life of the mother is at risk, to protect the health of their patients and slow the spread of the coronavirus.”
On Wednesday Planned Parenthood accused the governor and attorney general of Texas of “playing politics” with the abortion ban.
“I find it extremely distressing . . . that we are trying to respond to a purely political fight that [Gov. Greg Abbott] started. Patients who need abortions are on a time-sensitive deadline,” Sealy Massingill, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, told reporters.
Paxton responded that it was “unconscionable that abortion providers are fighting against the health of Texans and withholding desperately needed supplies and personal protective equipment in favor of a procedure that they refer to as a ‘choice.'”