{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-311.800","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 311.800","heading":"Abortions in publicly owned hospital or health care facility prohibited --","body":"Exception -- Injunction to enforce compliance -- Abortions in private hospital\nor health care facility -- Unlawful discriminatory practices.\n(1) No publicly owned hospital or o ther publicly owned health care facility shall\nperform or permit the performance of abortions, except to save the life of the\npregnant woman.\n(2) In the event that a publicly owned hospital or publicly owned health facility is\nperforming or about to perfor m an abortion in violation of subsection (1) of this\nsection, and law enforcement authorities in the county have failed or refused to take\naction to stop such a practice, any resident of the county in which the hospital or\nhealth facility is located, may a pply to the Circuit Court of that county for an\ninjunction or other court process to require compliance with subsection (1) of this\nsection.\n(3) No private hospital or private health care facility shall be required to, or held liable\nfor refusal to, perfor m or permit the performance of abortion contrary to its stated\nethical policy.\n(4) No physician, nurse staff member or employee of a public or private hospital or\nemployee of a public or private health care facility, who shall state in writing to\nsuch hospital or health care facility his objection to performing, participating in, or\ncooperating in, abortion on moral, religious or professional grounds, be required to,\nor held liable for refusal to, perform, participate in, or cooperate in such abortion.\n(5) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the following:\n(a) Any person to impose penalties or take disciplinary action against, or to deny\nor limit public funds, licenses, certifications, degrees, or other approvals or\ndocuments of qualification to, any hospital or other health care facility due to\nthe refusal of such hospital or health care facility to perform or permit to be\nperformed, participate in, or cooperate in, abortion by reason of objection\nthereto on moral, religious or professional g rounds, or because of any\nstatement or other manifestation of attitude by such hospital or health care\nfacility with respect to abortion; or,\n(b) Any person to impose penalties or take disciplinary action against, or to deny\nor limit public funds, licenses , certifications, degrees, or other approvals or\ndocuments of qualification to any physician, nurse or staff member or\nemployee of any hospital or health care facility, due to the willingness or\nrefusal of such physician, nurse or staff member or employee to perform or\nparticipate in abortion by reason of objection thereto on moral, religious or\nprofessional grounds, or because of any statement or other manifestation of\nattitude by such physician, nurse or staff member or employee with respect to\nabortion; or,\n(c) Any public or private agency, institution or person, including a medical,\nnursing or other school, to deny admission to, impose any burdens in terms of\nconditions of employment upon, or otherwise discriminate against any\napplicant for admission thereto or any physician, nurse, staff member, student\nor employee thereof, on account of the willingness or refusal of such\napplicant, physician, nurse, staff member, student or employee to perform or\nparticipate in abortion or sterilization by reason of obj ection thereto on moral,\nreligious or professional grounds, or because of any statement or other\nmanifestation of attitude by such person with respect to abortion or\nsterilization if that health care facility is not operated exclusively for the\npurposes of performing abortions or sterilizations.","path":["KRS Chapter 311"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=30643","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:58:06Z","sha256":"42c73b955ba2ee6f9cc8b223bbf4c9ea961b40c5c5473ef68955582554211e4a","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-311.790","next":"us-ky/krs-311.810"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}