KRS 311.7811: Legislative findings and declarations.

The General Assembly finds and declares, according to contemporary medical

research, all of the following:

(1) Medical and other authorities now know more about human prenatal

development than ever before, including:

(a) Between five (5) and six (6) weeks' gestation, an unborn child's heart

begins beating;

(b) At approximately eight (8) weeks' gestation, an unborn child begins to

move about in the womb;

(c) At nine (9) weeks' gestation, all basic physiological functions are present,

including teeth, eyes, and external genitalia;

(d) At ten (10) weeks' gestation, an unborn child's vital organs begin to

function, and hair, fingernails, and toenails begin to form;

(e) At eleven (11) weeks' gestation, an unborn child's diaphragm is

developing, he or she may even hiccup, and he or she is beginning to

move about freely in the womb; and

(f) At twelve (12) weeks' gestation, an unborn child can open and close his

or her fingers, starts to make sucking motions, senses stimulation from

the world outside the womb, and has taken on "the human form" in all

relevant aspects under Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124, 160 (2007);

(2) The United States Supreme Court has long recognized that the state has an

"important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life,"

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 162 (1973), and specifically that "the state has an

interest in protecting the life of the unborn," Planned Parenthood of

Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 873 (1992);

(3) The majority of abortion procedures performed after fifteen (15) weeks'

gestation are dilation and evacuation procedures which involve the use of

surgical instruments to crush and tear the unborn child apart before removing

the pieces of the dead child from the womb, procedures prohibited under KRS

311.787, and the General Assembly finds that the intentional commitment of

such acts for nontherapeutic or elective reasons is a barbaric practice,

dangerous for the maternal patient, and demeaning to the medical profession;

(4) Abortion carries significant physical and psychological risks to the maternal

patient, and these physical and psychological risks increase with gestational

age;

(5) As the second trimester progresses, in the vast majority of uncomplicated

pregnancies, the maternal health risks of undergoing an abortion are greater

than the risks of carrying a pregnancy to term;

(6) Seventy-five percent (75%) of all the nations in the world do not permit abortion

after twelve (12) weeks' gestation except, in most instances, to save the life

and preserve the physical health of the mother; and

(7) The Commonwealth of Kentucky has legitimate interests from the outset of the

pregnancy in protecting both the health of the woman and the life of an unborn

human individual who may be born.