One of the bills (HB2) recently passed by state lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Matt Bevin (R) is a measure requiring abortion clinics to perform an ultrasound and provide the results – including the audible heartbeat – to the woman before she decides to have an abortion. The law, which went into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature, permits the woman to refuse to see or listen to the results.

Margie Montgomery, executive director of the Kentucky Right to Life Association, says the law simply makes information available before a major medical procedure.

Montgomery tells OneNewsNow, “We think it will be very protective of a woman’s right to get all information before she makes such a life-changing decision.”

The Kentucky division of the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of three abortionists and the state’s sole licensed abortion-provider, has filed suit to block the bill. Based on media reports, Montgomery isn’t certain Attorney General Andy Beshear will defend the law.

“He said that it violates long-standing constitutional principles, including the right to privacy,” Montgomery says. “And that [sentiment] came also from the legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky.”

The argument of invasion of privacy seems strange when the ultrasound is done in privacy in the first place; but should the attorney general decide not to defend it, the law provides for funds to hire outside legal counsel to do so.

At the same time it passed HB2, Kentucky passed a bill (SB5) banning abortions at 20 weeks into the pregnancy.