To the editor:
After the resounding defeat last August of the “Value them Both” amendment to the Kansas Constitution, you might think that the abortion issue is settled. Abortion is legal in Kansas with some restrictions. Fifty-nine percent of Kansans refused to turn unfettered control to the Kansas legislature on abortion questions.
The Kansas Legislature didn’t get the message.
Both House and Senate proceeded to introduce and pass a host of measures restricting a woman’s control over her own body. Just take a look at where abortion related bills stood when the legislature recessed April 7th:
• Abortion reversal: A bill requiring physicians to tell women that their drug-induced abortion can be reversed is on its way to the governor after it was approved 26-11 in the Senate and 80-38 in the House. The bill is based on the unproven idea that a medical abortion can be stopped halfway through a two-drug regimen. Urge the governor to veto this bill. It is bad science and “fake medicine” designed to confuse women at a vulnerable point in their lives.
• Alternatives to abortion: The state budget added $2 million for a program that promotes alternatives to abortion by establishing a program to enhance resources that promote childbirth instead of abortion, including pregnancy support centers, adoption assistance, and maternity homes.
• Born alive’: The Legislature passed a bill requiring physicians to care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion. The House passed it 86-36; the Senate 31-9. This bill is probably veto-proof although the Governor vetoed it. Testimony in committees and floor debate was often emotional and not evidence based. Medical experts opposed the bill. “Terminal infants would be ripped from their parents’ arms and forced through painful, medically unnecessary procedures that would only prolong their suffering.”
• Pregnancy resource centers: A provision for tax credits for contributions to nonprofit pregnancy centers has been included in the conference committee report for Senate Bill 8 — a major tax bill. The tax credit would have been in an amount equal to 50% of the contributions and could have been carried forward for up to five years. The bill also includes an increased credit for adoption. The conference committee report was adopted by the House and is pending in the Senate.
And now, two federal judges, one in Texas and one in the state of Washington have entered opposing orders concerning one of the two drugs used in a medication abortion — mifepristone. The Texas judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, blocked FDA approval of mifepristone; however Judge Kacsmaryk’s decisions has been stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily. Clinics that provide abortions in Kansas have indicated they will continue to offer the drug until further rulings clarify the situation.
For 23 years, mifepristone has offered an exceedingly safe and effective, FDA-approved means of ending a pregnancy – with study after study confirming its critical role in abortion and miscarriage care. Kacsmaryk’s ruling has the potential to strain clinics and providers across the nation who are already grappling with the effects of Roe v. Wade being overturned and abortion bans in more than a dozen states.
Please call your local legislators and tell them, “The People Have Spoken – Pay Attention – Leave our Rights Alone!
Joan Wagnon, Jill Quigley, Sandy Praeger, Terrie Huntington, Alicia Salisbury, Shirley Allen, Karen Finstad
