FRANKFORT, Ky.– Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would grant the right to collect child support for unborn children, reflecting a broader effort in some Republican-led states to pass legislation that would give a fetus the same rights as a person.
Thanks to this measure, parents can apply for child support up to a year after the birth to cover maternity costs. The bill received approval from the Senate Committee on Families and Children, sending the bill to the full Senate. It was the first vote on the legislation, which was introduced in mid-January and referred to committee more than a month ago. Republicans have a supermajority in the Kentucky Senate and House.
Kentucky is one of at least six states where lawmakers have proposed measures similar to a Georgia law that would allow child support to be sought starting at conception. Georgia also allows prospective parents to claim the income tax deduction for dependent children before birth; Utah introduced a pregnancy tax credit last year; and variations on these measures are before lawmakers in at least four other states.
A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected children underscored the anti-abortion movement’s long-standing goal to provide embryos and fetuses with legal and constitutional protections comparable to those afforded to the people who carry them.
In Kentucky, Republican Senator Whitney Westerfield, a staunch opponent of abortion, is sponsoring legislation – Senate Bill 110 – that would allow child support to be retroactively applied to a fetus.
“That child is a human life,” Westerfield told the committee. “And the obligation to support starts as soon as that life begins. And I think we should be able to move on from that.
The bill was amended by the committee to apply only to child support filed within one year of birth, setting a strict deadline for seeking a court order dating back to the time of conception.
“So if there is no child support order before the child’s age, then this doesn’t apply,” Westerfield said. “Even after a year and a day, this does not apply. It is only for orders placed within one year of the child’s birth.”
Some abortion rights advocates in Kentucky expressed concerns about the bill afterward.
“This type of bill sets the stage for personhood,” Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said in a statement. “SB 110 is a slippery slope that leads us in the same direction” as the Alabama court ruling.
“Rather than trying to promote the idea of personhood through child benefits, this legislature should instead look at supporting pregnant people through comprehensive insurance, paid leave, or any number of options that could provide more inclusive benefits,” she added.
One potential obstacle to Kentucky law is the additional costs county attorneys would incur to enforce child support orders that apply to the unborn. In such cases, prosecutors cannot tap the federal funding they normally rely on to cover costs associated with child support enforcement, Westerfield said.
The bill’s proponents could apply for a state appropriation to cover these additional costs. House and Senate leaders will announce final details of the state’s next two-year budget in March.
For abortion opponents, recognizing the unborn child for child support purposes goes to the heart of an overarching issue, said Republican Sen. Danny Carroll, chairman of the committee.
“That’s where life begins,” Carroll said. “And that is where the obligation to care for that child must begin. And I think it’s a fundamental matter of fairness that we do this.”