On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up an abortion-related case out of Kentucky, marking the first time the justices have considered the issue in oral arguments with Amy Coney Barrett on the court.

At issue is a decision by the U.S. Sixth Court of Appeals not to allow Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, to continue defending the state’s new pro-life law.

The Kentucky law in question banned an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, in which an unborn baby is dismembered, piece by piece, while still in the womb or birth canal. Cameron’s office defended the law on behalf of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, but after a Sixth Circuit panel ruled the law unconstitutional, the administration of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear chose not to appeal the lawsuit. Cameron then asked the Sixth Circuit to allow his office to join the suit so he could defend the law without Beshear’s permission. The Sixth Circuit declined, and Cameron appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, on Monday, said in an order that it would take up the case but limit the issue to whether Cameron can defend the law. The constitutionality of the pro-life law itself will not be considered by the court, according to the court’s order.

It will be the first abortion-related case heard by the court under the new 6-3 conservative majority.

The law is House Bill 454.

“I promised Kentuckians that I would defend our laws all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and that’s what we’ve done,” Cameron said in a statement. “Since day one in office, we’ve fought to defend House Bill 454, even when the Beshear Administration refused to defend it. This law reflects the conscience of Kentucky by banning the gruesome practice of live dismemberment abortions, and it’s important that Kentuckians have a voice before our nation’s highest court. I was elected to provide that voice, and we look forward to making our case to the Supreme Court.”

ScotusBlog, which covers the Supreme Court’s actions, said the question before the court is “whether a state attorney general vested with the power to defend state law should be permitted to intervene after a federal court of appeals invalidates a state statute when no other state actor will defend the law.”

The case will be argued this fall, with an opinion from the Supreme Court expected next year.

  • The following is from Pro Life Across America
    • 18 days from conception, heart begins to beat, with the baby’s own blood.
    • 28 days from conception a baby has eyes, ears, and even a tongue!
    • 28 days from conception: Muscles are developing along the future spine. Arms and legs are budding.
    • 30 days: Child has grown 10,000 times to 6-7mm (1/4”) long. Brain has human proportions. Blood flows in veins.
    • 42 days: Skeleton is formed. Brain coordinates movement of muscles and organs. Reflex responses have begun.
    • 42 days: Brain waves can be detected, the jaw forms, including teeth and taste buds. The unborn baby begins to swallow amniotic fluid. Fingers and toes are developing.
    • 45 days from conception: The unborn baby is making body movements, a full 12 weeks before the mother may notice such stirrings. By seven weeks the chest and abdomen are fully formed. Swimming with a natural swimmer’s stroke in the amniotic fluid, the baby now looks like a miniature human infant.
    • 44-45 days: Buds of milk teeth appear, and the unborn baby’s facial muscles develop. Eyelids begin to form, protecting the developing eyes. Elbows take shape. Internal organs are present, but immature. 99% of muscles are present, each with its own nerve supply.
    • 52 Days: Spontaneous movement begins. The unborn baby then develops a whole collection of moves over the next 4 weeks including hiccuping, frowning, squinting, furrowing the brow, pursing the lips, moving individual arms and legs, head turning, touching his/her face, breathing (without air), stretching, opening the mouth, yawning and sucking.                                                                                                                                                                                                                I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Psalms 139:14-16

Related:

U.S. Supreme Court Blocks ‘Abortion by Mail,’ as Amy Coney Barrett Sides with 6-3 Majority