FRANKFORT — Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky are debating who is the most opposed to abortion.

Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul said Thursday he is "100 percent pro-life" and favors allowing individual states "to protect life" while the country awaits enough votes on the U.S. Supreme Court to ban abortion or a constitutional amendment is approved to protect life.

Paul said in a statement that "a bill allowing states to act to end abortion — much like a repeal of Roe v. Wade — could come much sooner than any true federal ban."

He also said his chief rival, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, has "declined to support legislation that would stop the federal government from forcing California- and New York-style abortion on demand on the people of Kentucky."

Paul's comments came after Grayson and another GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate — Todd County businessman Bill Johnson — took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement Wednesday in response to claims contained in a radio ad by Paul on abortion.

Paul said he would vote for any law to help end abortion, but Grayson and Johnson noted that Paul has previously said he "probably" would have supported a federal ban on partial birth abortion.

"There's no 'probably' when it comes to the issue of partial birth abortion among Kentucky pro-life activists," said Grayson in the joint release.

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