Kansas lawmaker proposes abortion ban as statewide vote over right to procedure looms
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Kansas and Missouri now have more control over abortion access in their state following the Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 court ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right. Here’s what that looks like.
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A Kansas lawmaker has introduced a bill to criminalize abortion at a moment when the future of the right to the procedure is in doubt.
The legislation has no chance of becoming law this year. Leading abortion opponents in Kansas on Wednesday quickly distanced themselves from the proposal.
But the measure foreshadows the explosive fights that await lawmakers if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the federal right to an abortion later this spring and Kansas voters approve an amendment in August making clear the state constitution doesn’t include the right to an abortion.
Amendment supporters have said it’s intended to secure the Legislature’s power to keep current abortion regulations in place – a message they repeated Wednesday. But opponents said House Bill 2746 shows the ultimate aim of lawmakers is to ban abortion.
The bill would criminalize abortion except in cases of miscarriage, stillbirth or ectopic pregnancies. The legislation appears to make no exception for rape, incest or other health conditions that could threaten the life of the woman.
The measure appears to allow the prosecution of pregnant women who obtain abortions under some circumstances, in addition to medical professionals who perform them. Abortion is defined in the bill as “using or prescribing” any instrument, drug or medicine to terminate a pregnancy — a definition that encompasses medications a woman would take to induce an abortion.
It also establishes as a crime the destruction of a fertilized embryo, though the implications of the provision weren’t immediately clear. Planned Parenthood Great Plains raised concerns it could affect the use of in vitro fertilization, in which eggs are fertilized in a lab and then transferred to a uterus.
Abortions and destruction of embryos would be a level 1 person felony, among the most serious and often punishable with significant prison sentences.
Rep. Trevor Jacobs, a hard-right Fort Scott Republican, introduced the bill in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee earlier this month. But the bill’s text was made available on Tuesday.
Jacobs refused to speak with a reporter before the House began its daily session on Wednesday morning.
House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the Legislature won’t act on the bill this year.
“I don’t want to think about next year,” Hawkins said when asked whether the issue would be pursued if the amendment, called Value Them Both by supporters, passes.
Even as Republican lawmakers made assurances that the bill won’t advance in the remaining weeks of the session, Democrats and abortion rights supporters expressed alarm.
“It’s absolutely a window into what’s coming,” Emily Wales, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said. “And I think to a certain extent, whether or not politicians try to disclaim this or step back, it unmasks the lie that’s really behind the Value Them Both amendment.”
Jeanne Gawdun, a lobbyist for Kansans for Life, said in a text the organization had just learned about the bill but remained “fully focused on the Value Them Both Amendment.”
In promoting the amendment, Kansans for Life and other anti-abortion groups have shied away from questions about whether further abortion restrictions would be sought if Value Them Both passes or Roe is overturned. They have instead promoted a message that the amendment is about ensuring the proper regulation of abortion.
Kansas lawmakers placed the amendment on the August ballot after the state Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that the state constitution protects the right to an abortion. The amendment would overturn that decision by giving the Legislature clear authority over the procedure.
But since the 2019 opinion, doubt has grown about the future of the federal right to an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, appears poised by May or June to overturn or significantly roll back the right to end a pregnancy established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
If that happens and voters reject the amendment, Kansas could become one of the few centrally-located states with a guaranteed right to abortion access. But if it passes, lawmakers would have a freer hand to impose additional restrictions.
“The truth is Value Them Both does not abolish abortion,” Kim Borchers, the Kansas Republican national committeewoman, told a Kansans for Life rally in January. “The amendment preserves existing laws that were passed with bipartisan support. You’ve heard that. I’m going to say that over and over again because we have to have – that’s the message that we have to give. Because the lie will be that this is trying to abolish abortion. That is a lie.”
Brittany Jones, a lobbyist for Kansas Family Voice, said Wednesday that bills like Jacobs’ abortion ban have been introduced “by a select few” throughout the years but have never gained political traction.
“We want to create a culture of life throughout the state of Kansas. I can’t comment on what the world looks like as a lot of those hypotheticals take place,” Jones said.
Jones said creating that culture of life would involve protection of abortion restrictions and regulations already passed within the Kansas Legislature including a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions.
But abortion rights supporters call the bill an omen of what’s to come.
“This bill that was introduced is the future and is what will happen if that amendment passes,” Rep. Stephanie Clayton, an Overland Park Democrat, said. “(Abortion opponents) are telling women of Kansas that they need to calm down. And that is insulting. This is about their constitutional rights.”
Kansans will vote on the amendment on Aug. 2.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 12:17 PM.
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