”One year ago, Kansas became the first state in the nation to vote on reproductive rights following the fall of Roe v. Wade and the first to boldly protect the constitutional right to abortion,” Rachel Sweet writes in this Kansas Reflector column.
Kansas reported its highest number of abortions in decades last year, after the overturning of Roe sent thousands of out-of-state patients to Kansas clinics.
In Kansas, where abortion rights are still protected, a surge is predicted for the 2022 year due to out-of-state abortion seekers.
Kansas will not enforce its new “abortion pill reversal” law, set to take effect July 1, until a court rules on abortion providers’ request for a temporary injunction.
Kansas abortion providers filed a lawsuit combating an “abortion reversal” law based on a debunked study, calling the state’s tightened abortion regulations increasingly “inaccurate” and a violation of bodily integrity.
Despite the 59-41 margin in a statewide vote on the constitutional amendment last year, Republican lawmakers passed new anti-abortion laws.
The GOP-dominated House overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of three anti-abortion laws Wednesday over objections about state-mandated misinformation, alienating OB-GYN workers and ignoring the will of voters.
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would make doctors tell patients that abortion pills may be reversible, citing its “uncertain science” that she says could harm Kansans’ health.
Gov. Laura Kelly overruled a “born-alive” bill and an NRA-backed gun program for public schools, but the Kansas GOP plans to overturn these vetoes when the Legislature returns later this month.
Kansas clinics say they’ll continue to prescribe the abortion pill mifepristone this week — but big questions remain.
