Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Attorney General Andy Beshear created a controversy last week when he publicly refused to defend a duly enacted law by the legislature. SB 5 bans late-term abortions after 20 weeks and passed with over 80 percent of the vote. It's based on science that tells us that babies feel pain at that age. Abortion of course, is horribly painful. Beshear disagrees and called the law unconstitutional. In a press release he said, "this law is clearly unconstitutional based on our review of numerous federal appellate rulings, which state that identical statutes in other jurisdictions are illegal under numerous Supreme Court decisions. While these decisions may not please advocates on either side, my duty is to the law.” Which leaves many wondering, whether any attorney general has the authority to pick and choose which laws he'll defend?