August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Voters are flocking to the polls in Lawrence as a routine summer primary election is overshadowed and supercharged by a vote on a constitutional amendment that could decide the future of abortion in Kansas.
Voters across Kansas on Monday were receiving text messages containing inaccurate information about the constitutional amendment on Tuesday’s ballot.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
Tuesday’s vote is the last opportunity for Kansas voters to protect the state’s current abortion rights, Democratic legislators say. And if the amendment on the ballot passes, there will be little to no opportunity anytime soon for it to be overturned.
Democratic voters are being targeted with an unsolicited text message that falsely claims a “yes” vote on the amendment would preserve reproductive rights in Kansas. The constitutional amendment vote is also drawing piles of cash, misleading ads, and church activism.
Proponents call it the “Value them Both” amendment. These women would dispute that characterization. And much misinformation has swirled around the amendment ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Before she got an abortion last year, Bulaong Ramiz said she never saw herself as someone who would do so. But when the time came, she chose herself and her then-2-year-old daughter who needed her.
As Kansans prepare to vote on the future of abortion, rural western Kansas offers a preview of what life with an abortion ban might eventually look like for the rest of the state.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
Lin Marando said her abusive partner drove her to Overland Park for her abortion four years ago. Her decision was nuanced and informed by her own life and body: she was only 20, and she has cystic fibrosis, making her pregnancy high risk.
The Kansas secretary of state predicted Friday competitive races and the proposed abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution could drive an extra 200,000 voters to the polls in the primary election.
Dickinson County officials threatened to arrest Democrats who were protesting near the county courthouse in Abilene in opposition of the constitutional amendment on abortion.
