American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky

Aclu-ky worked in coalition under the umbrella of protect Kentucky access to defeat anti-abortion constitutional amendment 2. The amendment would have placed an abortion ban into Kentucky's constitution. Amendment 2 was defeated with 52.3% of kentuckians voting to reject the extreme measure.

Aclu-ky worked in coalition to get one positive piece of criminal legal reform legislation over the finish line. The general assembly voted unanimously to decriminalize fentanyl test strips. These test strips were formerly classified as drug paraphernalia. As Kentucky continues to experience record overdose deaths, we hope the availability of these testing strips will help save lives.

Aclu-ky advocated for Civil rights and Liberties during the short session of the Kentucky general assembly. We worked with directly impacted advocates across our priority issue areas to share their stories and meet with legislators to discuss the impacts of various pieces of legislation under consideration. We hired directly impacted contract lobbyists to help support aclu-ky "mini lobby days." These legislative events supported directly impacted kentuckians travel to the capitol to meet with legislators, testify at hearings, and be in community with one another. The aclu-ky advocacy team fought hard against anti-trans legislation that ultimately passed the general assembly after a veto override. This legislation will ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, among other things. We do plan to file a legal challenge to the law before it takes effect in june 2023.