The regular session of the 2020 General Assembly session is over and there is legislation on Governor Beshear’s desk awaiting a response from him. One bill of particular significance to Kentucky Baptists is Senate Bill 9.

Senate Bill 9 passed on the last day of the General Assembly. It includes what is known as the “born alive bill” that requires medical workers to provide care to newborn infants in the first minutes of life outside their mother’s womb. Every Christian will want that child to have life-sustaining care provided.

SB 9 also includes a provision allowing the attorney general to enforce a law requiring abortion clinics to have a written agreement with a hospital so that patients may be transferred to the hospital if an emergency occurs. It also gives him the ability to deem what is an essential medical service. This is especially important as abortion has been deemed an essential service during the COVID-19 quarantine.

The bill passed the House by a strong margin of 70-16 and it passed the Senate by an even greater majority of 30-2. The governor has three options regarding this bill and he has until April 27 to act. He can veto it, sign it into law, or do nothing and the bill will become law.

I’m asking Kentucky Baptists to contact Governor Beshear and respectfully ask him to allow Senate Bill 9 to become law. You can email him by clicking here or you can send a message through his website by clicking here.

Proverbs 31:9 admonishes believers to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. This well-known wisdom verse says, “Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy.” There is no one more poor and needy than an unborn child about to be aborted. Please consider using your voice for the ones who cannot speak for themselves.