20:34
Brief
Sen. Whitney Westerfield discusses his bill to allow child support during the months of pregnancy. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Isabella Sepahban)
FRANKFORT — A?bill that would allow Kentuckians to collect child support payments for fetuses as long as there is an order in place within a year of birth passed the Senate 36-2 Tuesday.?
Senate Bill 110, sponsored by Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, can now go to the House side for consideration.?
“I believe that life begins at conception,” said Westerfield on the floor. “But even if you don’t there’s no question there are obligations and costs involved with having a child.”?
There are doctor’s visits and medical care bills even before expenses like car seats, he said.?“These costs are very real and add stress to what is and should be an exciting and beautiful time in a young mother’s life,” Westerfield said in a statement. “Our courts should be able to order those costs as recoverable through a child support order.”
In allowing for retroactive child support, the Senate Majority Caucus said in a statement that Westerfield is “addressing the concern of absent fathers” in Kentucky.?
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Sarah Ladd
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist from West Kentucky who's covered everything from crime to higher education. She spent nearly two years on the metro breaking news desk at The Courier Journal. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since. As the Kentucky Lantern's health reporter, she focuses on mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, children's welfare, COVID-19 and more.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
