Kentucky AG avoids talk of more exceptions to abortion ban

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's attorney general stood firmly behind the state's near-total abortion ban Monday, saying he promotes Kentucky values “without fear or favor" though the Republican gubernatorial stopped short of saying whether he supports adding more exceptions to the ban.

At a news conference, Daniel Cameron refrained from commenting on calls for the state to include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, avoiding a subject that has divided Republicans nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the authority to determine abortion law themselves.

Cameron, one of many Republicans gearing up to compete for the chance to challenge Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in his bid for a second term, also proceeded with caution when asked about former President Donald Trump’s recent dinner with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist. Trump recently dined in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club with Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to spread antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.

Asked about the dinner in an interview Monday, Cameron told The Associated Press: “I don’t keep up with who the president is having dinner with.”

Cameron, who is Black, won Trump’s endorsement earlier this year and has touted the former president’s backing in his bid for the GOP nomination for governor. Looking beyond Trump’s controversies, Cameron said “the working men and women of this commonwealth appreciated the policies that were put forth by the prior administration.”

On the abortion ban, Cameron said he supports the actions of the state’s Republican-dominated legislature in passing the state’s trigger law that prohibited nearly all abortions. Approved in 2019, the measure took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned i n June by the...