Abortion is on the August ballot in Kansas, but a complete ban on the procedure isn’t
Confusion reigned supreme in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court opinion indicating the high court may soon overturn Roe v. Wade, and with it five decades of federal abortion rights protections.
Abortion providers scrambled to ensure patients knew the procedure was still legal. In Missouri and Tennessee, some falsely claimed the state legislatures had banned Plan B.
And in Kansas, Prairie Roots, a political organizing group founded by former state senator and failed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Bollier, posted to Twitter that “a total abortion ban is on the ballot in Kansas.”
Abortion is on the ballot in Kansas. It will be the first state to hold a vote on the topic after the court ruling.
But voters will not be directly deciding on a “total abortion ban.” Other steps would have to take place beyond the August vote to enact a total ban in Kansas.
Kansans will be voting on a constitutional amendment eliminating state-level protections for the procedure. A 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling found that the Kansas Constitution protects a right to an abortion. As a result most restrictions on abortion, including a total ban, would be considered unconstitutional in Kansas.
In August, voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that adds language to the state constitution stating that the document does not provide a right to an abortion.
If the amendment passes nothing in Kansas law regarding abortion would immediately change. However, Kansas lawmakers would once again be free to restrict abortion up to the level allowable by federal law.
And if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade-- as it’s expected to before the Kansas primary vote in August-- Kansas lawmakers would have the power to pass a total ban on abortion. This year Rep. Trevor Jacobs, a hard-right Fort Scott Republican, introduced a bill that would criminalize abortion in nearly all cases.
“That’s what’s at stake and that’s what will likely happen if this amendment passes,” Peyton Browning, executive director of Prairie Roots, said.
Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, the primary group fighting against the amendment, wrote in their statement that the vote would “pave the way for a total ban.”
“We are encouraging people to follow what we have been saying all along which is that the amendment gives government the ability to control our private medical decisions and opens the door for future bans on abortion and other regulations,” Ashley All, spokeswoman for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 11:09 AM.
