The bill would have given the state's Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron authority to regulate abortion clinics and the power to suspend abortions as an elective procedure during the coronavirus outbreak.
Another part of the vetoed measure would have required doctors to provide life-sustaining care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt.
The measure cleared the legislature in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session. As a result, lawmakers won’t have an opportunity to override Governor Andy Beshear’s veto.
In a statement on Twitter, House Speaker David Osborne said he was "outraged and saddened" by the veto.
"Make no mistake, the governor had a choice and he used it to defend the indefensible,” Osborne said. “The Born Alive Act simply requires physicians and other health caregivers to provide life-saving medical care to infants who survive an abortion. This is about protecting a human life outside of the womb.”
When asked about the veto by a reporter at his Friday press conference Friday afternoon, Beshear said he “was just not doing divisive issues right now.”He added that current state law already protects any child born alive in the same way the bill was written.
