Kansans, you can keep the Supreme Court from taking away your reproductive freedom
Today, we observe the 49th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, protecting an individual’s right to seek an abortion. But at this time next year, the constitutional right of every person to control their reproductive choices may be a thing of the past.
The United States Supreme Court has already set the clock back on abortion access, allowing a near-total abortion ban in Texas to remain in effect for months. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, individuals will lose the ability to make their own reproductive health care decisions.
As a retired registered nurse who has provided, taught and championed high-quality maternal care, I know firsthand the toll that restrictions on access to safe and legal abortion take on patients. My experiences as a provider, reproductive care educator and continued advocate have made it very clear to me that the full spectrum of comprehensive health services, including abortion, is essential.
If the situation in Texas is a glimpse into what will happen if the Supreme Court eliminates abortion rights, the impact to patients will be devastating. But Kansans still have the opportunity to protect individuals’ rights.
As I’ve heard from health care workers and fellow advocates on the ground in neighboring states, Texans continue to come in unprecedented numbers to health centers such as Planned Parenthood locations in Tulsa or Oklahoma City. They choose these destinations because they are carefully calculating the number of hours they’ll miss at work and the time they’re expected back to pick up their kids from school. For these patients, every minute matters.
But the numbers alone don’t tell the human impact. News stories have covered the heartbreaking situations patients find themselves in.
These are individuals who have made deeply personal decisions, and because of medically unnecessary laws, they are now being forced to flee their home states for care.
It’s about a young woman from Texas spending her monthly earnings on gas, food and a hotel to get care in Oklahoma, worrying that she wouldn’t have enough to support her other children.
It’s a victim of abuse who realizes too late that the Texas law has no exception for her to seek care.
Patients are in crisis, and the emergency is entirely man-made.
Proposed copycats of the Texas law are possible across our region, but Kansans like me are in the unique position of considering an amendment in the August primary election that would remove the right to abortion from the state constitution. Should the amendment pass, Kansas would join many other states in the Midwest in denying patients their right to access care.
As a retired health care provider, I know people seek abortion care for many different reasons, and the only uniting aspect is the deeply personal nature of their decisions. But if abortion becomes illegal in more than half the states in the country, there will be a dramatic difference in patients’ ability to obtain care along economic lines.
If ever there was a time to get involved and make your vote count, it’s now. Please plan to show up on Aug. 2 to vote no on the state constitutional amendment that could pave the way for a total ban on abortion.
Roe may not reach a golden anniversary. Kansans must understand just what’s at stake when politicians interfere in their freedom to make their own health care decisions.