Abortion legislation gets veto in Kansas
Bill would require ‘reversal’ notice
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor vetoed legislation Wednesday that would require clinics to tell patients that a medication abortion can be stopped using an unproven drug regimen.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s action pushed back state GOP efforts to restrict abortion despite a decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights in August 2022. It was the second time within a week that she vetoed an anti-abortion bill approved by the Legislature, which has Republican supermajorities and conservative leaders.
“Kansans made clear that they believe personal healthcare decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not politicians in Topeka,” Kelly said in a short statement announcing Wednesday’s action.
Last week, she rejected a measure that could subject doctors to criminal charges and lawsuits if they are accused of not providing enough care for infants delivered alive during certain abortion procedures, even if they are expected to die within seconds outside the womb because of a severe medical issue.
Kelly also vetoed an abortion medication “reversal” measure in 2019. The governor said Wednesday that this year’s bill would interfere in decisions made by women and their doctors and could harm people’s health, “given the uncertain science behind it.”
Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group, called last week’s veto of the bill dealing with medical care for infants born during abortion procedures “heartless.” After Kelly’s veto of the abortion medication measure, spokesperson Danielle Underwood said the governor sided with the “extremist abortion industry.”
Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said: “With this veto, Governor Kelly has shown that she does not believe vulnerable women have the right to know all of their options.”
The vetoes mean that abortion access and providers in Kansas remain for now far less restricted compared with other states with GOP-controlled legislatures that have banned or severely restricted abortion procedures over the past year.
GOP lawmakers are expected to try to override both vetoes after they reconvene next week to finish their business for the year.
Abortion opponents had the two-thirds majorities that will be necessary to override the veto of the bill on medical treatment for infants delivered alive during abortion procedures.
Republican lawmakers also may be able to override the bill vetoed Wednesday, though the vote is likely to be close in the House.
If they do, patients asking for a medical abortion would get a state-mandated, written notice that they can interrupt their abortion, even though the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says there is no scientific evidence that the “reversal” approach promoted by abortion opponents is safe or effective.
Abortion-rights supporters contend both measures break faith with voters. Kansas Senate Democratic Leader Dinah Sykes said Wednesday that those voters had “rejected giving politicians power over their personal, private decisions.”
“This bill attempts to undermine Kansans’ right to bodily autonomy by willfully forcing blatant misinformation into a health care environment,” said Sykes, who is from the Kansas City area, where the abortion-rights vote was especially strong. “This is an attempt to sway a woman away from making the decision that the people of Kansas resoundingly said she has a right to make on her own.”
Even if Kansas lawmakers override Kelly’s vetoes, providers could ask state courts to block the new laws. Lawsuits have prevented Kansas from enforcing a 2015 ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure and a 2011 law from imposing extra health and safety rules on abortion providers.