Counseling Ban/Gag Rule

Every hospital with emergency-room services shall have a physician or sexual-assault nurse available to examine survivors of sexual offenses reported to a law-enforcement agency.  Such examinations must include emergency-room treatment, evidence-gathering services, tests, and information about services for treatment of sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy, and other medical problems.  The pregnancy counseling provided to survivors of reported sexual offenses may not include abortion counseling or referral.  Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 216B.400 (Enacted 1974; Last Amended 2006).

A school district shall not operate a family-resource center or a youth-services center that provides abortion counseling or makes referrals to a health-care facility for the purpose of seeking abortion services.  S.B. 192, 2008 Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2008) (to be codified at Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 156.4975).