Rally in support of KY amendment on abortion draws hundreds, plus counter protesters

On the steps of the Kentucky Capitol Saturday afternoon, a few hundred people gathered to signal their allegiance to “defending God’s gift” in the “battle for unborn life,” as one Christian pastor referred to it.

At the Yes for Life Alliance rally in Frankfort, which featured speeches by a handful of local evangelical leaders and Republican state lawmakers, attendees recited the Lord’s Prayer, sang the Star-Spangled Banner, recited the Pledge of Allegiance, prayed the Holy Rosary, and sang worship songs led by the Jason Lovins Band.

The rally was organized by Yes for Life, a campaign working to pass a constitutional amendment on the November 8 ballot that seeks to codify in the Kentucky Constitution that there is no inherent right to abortion, no matter the circumstance. By a mid September filing deadline, the Yes For Life campaign had amassed roughly $460,000 in donations, according to Kentucky Registry of Election Financing filings. The opponent campaign, Protect Kentucky Access, which began airing its first television ad on Friday, had raked in upwards of $1.75 million by that same deadline, including close to $40,000 in individual donations from 49 licensed physicians.

If passed, the amendment would revoke courts’ ability to interpret the constitution as containing a right to abortion and grant sole regulatory authority to the General Assembly, a supermajority Republican governing body that has banned nearly all abortions in Kentucky, even in cases of rape and incest. By mid September, close to 50 licensed physicians had donated individually to Protect Kentucky Access.

“We who are Christians understand that the sacredness of human life means that we must defend life from the moment of fertilization until the moment of natural death, under every condition,” Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said to a round of applause. The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a major local funder to the Yes for Life campaign, contributing close to $80,000, according campaign finance filings.

Addia Wuchner, Yes for Life campaign manager and former Republican lawmaker, opened the rally with a “remembrance walk” to “reflect in silence for the tiny forgotten ones” who “never felt their mother’s face, never felt the sunlight on their face.”

Much of the rally’s focus was on elective abortions, and very little was said about abortive procedures required in clinical settings that are the result of medical complications or fetal anomalies, or abortions sought by people who are survivors of sexual violence. Wuchner, near the middle of the rally, addressed the “lie” and “misinformation” peddled by opposing groups who suggest the constitutional amendment, and Kentucky’s vaguely-worded trigger law banning abortion, aim to interfere with routine OBGYN care in treating conditions like miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. The Herald-Leader previously reported that the trigger law has, in fact, already impacted routine OBGYN care, which regularly includes providing abortive procedures.

“It’s not nice to lie,” Wuchner said. “Please do not confuse this amendment with medical issues that will be addressed by medical providers. A miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy is not an intentional termination of a child.”

The messages from speakers at Saturday’s rally relied on religious and biblical doctrine to explain why abortion, under any circumstance, is antithetical to the will of the Christian God, “who made every single human life in [his] image,” Mohler declared.

A handful of Republican lawmakers spoke at the rally, including Rep. Nancy Tate, a Brandenburg Republican who crafted a hefty anti-abortion bill putting more restrictions on the medical procedure that passed into law earlier this year. Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, told the crowd, “in Kentucky today, abortion is all but banned,” but “our fight is not over.”

“The enemy is not giving up. The enemy is continuing to confuse and prey on women who are scared and worried about the future. Let us show them the assurance and provision of God’s grace and mercy,” Westerfield said.

Church leaders called on rally goers to fulfill their Christian duty and vote “Yes” on the constitutional amendment. “This is the one opportunity in our lifetime for the citizens of Kentucky to register your opinion on abortion,” Bishop John Iffert of the Catholic Diocese of Covington said. “Please, dear God, choose life.”

Most churches in Kentucky operate under non-profit status, which means they are tax exempt and barred from public partisan or political speech. But Iffert told Saturday’s crowd that the issue of abortion isn’t political. By mid September, the Catholic Conference of Kentucky had donated $100,000 to the Yes for Life campaign, according to state election financing filings.

Iffert urged the crowd to print out copies of sample ballots to take with them everywhere they go until November to familiarize friends and family with the wording of Constitutional Amendment 2. He encouraged them to ask their church leaders to project the wording of question 2 on large screens in their sanctuaries where worship song lyrics are displayed, and to talk about this vote openly to their congregations.

“Project your sample ballot,” Iffert directed. “Show them how to vote.”

Rally goers who ask this of their church leaders might meet resistance, he warned.

“Some of you who are Catholic out there, you might run into a priest or pastor that says, ‘the bishop tells me that I can’t do any political activity,’” Iffert said. “But on this issue, on amendment number 2, this is not partisan political activity,” he directed. “This is issue advocacy. This is standing for the truth. This is witnessing for the gospel.”

As the rally unfolded, shouts from a counter protest, “Save Lives, Vote No,” and “Bans off our bodies!” disrupted the Yes for Life rally.

A few times, the rally’s slate of speakers indirectly addressed the counter protesters.

“Take all that in,” Iffert told rally goers when the counter protest began blaring music. “No anger, just mercy. Just take it.”

Mohler was more pointed.

“Some of the noise you hear right now is the howls of the culture of death,” he said. “The year 2022 represents a setback they did not expect.”