Abortion Amendment To Kansas Constitution Spotlights Rivals’ Well-Hewn Arguments

By Tim Carpenter, the Kansas Reflector

January 15, 2021

TOPEKA — A renewed effort in Kansas to secure elusive two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate for a pro-life constitutional amendment Friday produced an echo chamber of arguments on both sides with proponents arguing it was a bid to correct judicial overreach and opponents declaring it a deeper quest to eventually end access to the procedure.

The House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over abortion policy convened in the Old Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol for back-to-back hearings on a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution designed to reverse a Kansas Supreme Court decision declaring the state’s Bill of Rights provided women a constitutional right to abortion in Kansas.

The Value Them Both amendment proposed for August 2022 primary ballots would clarify that Kansas legislators retained the right to pass laws regarding abortion and wouldn’t have to provide government funding for abortion. The amendment would allow but not require lawmakers to take into account pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or medical circumstances necessary to save the life of the mother.

In 2020, the Kansas Senate approved the amendment but it fell a few votes short in the Kansas House. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed a strategy to return to the issue late in last year’s legislative session.

“Decades of experience show that unlimited abortion hurts women and babies,” said Jeanne Gawdun, a lobbyist with Kansans for Life. “Nowhere is that more evident than in the area of abortion clinic licensure, inspection and reporting.”

She said approval of the amendment by two-thirds majorities of the Legislature and by a simple majority in statewide balloting would “return to the people the right to regulate abortion through their elected officials.”

Rachel Sweet, regional director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, said the amendment should be defeated because Kansans deserved the right to make their own personal, private medical decisions without government interference.

The proposed constitutional amendment on abortion strives to take away constitutional rights of women, she said. This is the next step in a pattern of medically unneccessary restrictions that push abortion care out of reach for the state’s must vulnerable citizens with the ultimate goal of banning abortion outright, she said.

“Decisions about whether to end a pregnancy are deeply personal and should be left to a woman in consultation with her health care provider, her family and her faith — not politicians in Topeka,” Sweet said. “Throughout their pregnancy, a woman must be able to make her own decisions with the advice of the health care professional she trusts. This amendment could ultimately prevent many Kansans from making those important, personal decisions in consultation with their doctors.”

Nearly two years ago, the Kansas Supreme Court issued an opinion in Hodes & Nauser v. Derek Schmidt affirming a Shawnee County District Court’s order enjoining enforcement of legislation banning an abortion procedure known as “dilation and evacuation.”

In that 6-1 decision, the Supreme Court concluded Section 1 of the Bill of Rights in Kansas contained “protection of the right of personal autonomy, which includes the ability to control one’s own body, to assert bodily integrity and to exercise self-determination.” This right allows women to make decisions that include whether to continue a pregnancy, the state’s highest court said.

It’s not clear when the full House and Senate would vote on the proposed amendment, but GOP legislative leaders have made it a high priority in terms of policy and because spread of COVID-19 could prevent the Legislature from convening at the statehouse. Gov. Laura Kelly doesn’t possess veto power over proposed amendments to the Kansas Constitution.

The Kansas Reflector seeks to increase people's awareness of how decisions made by elected representatives and other public servants affect our day-to-day lives. We hope to empower and inspire greater participation in democracy throughout Kansas.