KENTUCKY SENATE PASSES BILL GRANTING RETROACTIVE CHILD SUPPORT FOR FETUSES

In the shadow of Alabama’s on-going “fetal personhood” argument, the Republican-led Kentucky Senate has passed a potentially controversial bill, granting retroactive child support for fetuses. Artistic ultrasound of fetus with baby shoes. PEXELS.COM Senate Bill 110 won Senate passage on a 36-2 vote and will advance to the House. The measure, which garnered bipartisan support, will allow a parent to request child support for up to a year after birth to cover pregnancy costs. Sponsor/author of the bill, Republican state Senator Whitney Westerfield, after the vote, stated that the widespread approval and support of Senate Bill 110 indicates an acknowledgment that pregnancy entails a responsibility for the partner to contribute towards the expenses over the nine-month gestation period. “I believe that life begins at conception,” Westerfield said in the Senate chambers while presenting the measure to his colleagues. “But even if you don’t, there’s no question that there are obligations and costs involved with having a child before that child is born.” Newborn baby feet. PEXELS.COM The measure establishes a stringent time frame on filing for child support. A parent can retroactively request child support for pregnancy costs only up to one year post birth.& Westerfield made that point crystal...