A bill expected to pass the Kansas Senate would change the definition of life, limit tax breaks for abortion providers and ban such organizations from taking part in sex education efforts in public schools. The bill passed the House with widespread support, with a vote of 92-31.
The language of the bill is drawing questions from pro-choice advocates, who point to wording that states life begins at fertilization and that unborn child label shall be applied “from the moment of fertilization.” Language in the bill also awards rights to all unborn children, effective July 1, 2013.
Provisions of the bill dictate what information doctors will be mandated to provide women who are seeking abortion, including potential links between abortion and breast cancer, which is not a theory shared widely within the medical community.
“Women seeking reproductive health care in Kansas need the best care they can get from health care providers in their community,” Planned Parenthood CEO Peter Brownlie said during testimony. “They do not need coercive and medically inaccurate information from politicians.”
Women seeking abortions would also be limited from claiming abortions as a “health care expense” on their taxes.
Kansas has already seen a decline in the number of abortions, putting the state at a 25-year low. In 2012, abortions declined by 5.4 percent — from 7,885 in 2011 to 7,457 last year, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The state is home to three abortion clinics.
Seeking compromise fails
Attempts to include provisions in the bill for exemptions in the case of rape or incest were rejected by the House. The state has a ban on abortions before the 22-week period — that also lacks loopholes for cases of rape and incest.
“It is a commonsense, compassionate exception,” Elise Higgins, a lobbyist for the National Organization of Women told the Wichita Eagle. “Even some of the most restrictive legislation in the country — that 12-week Arkansas abortion ban — does include an exception for rape and incest, and it’s agreed upon that abortion statutes shouldn’t touch those kinds of situations.”
If abortions are provided after that period of time, it is considered under state law to be a misdemeanor or a felony, unless it is done to save the woman’s life. Pro-choice advocates also take issue with provisions that consider the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle to be the beginning of the 22-week period, rather than the time of fertilization.
Pro-choice groups are claiming confusion over the portion of the law that would ban them from teaching — or provided any information related to — sex education education seminars in public schools, regardless of whether they speak about abortion. It goes as far as limiting those who work at organizations that provide abortions from also working in schools.
Previous versions of the bill could have limited those who work at health centers that provide abortion from volunteering at their childrens’ school, but the wording was changed.
“Certainly if someone wants to volunteer we can’t stop somebody,” Rep. Steve Brunk, a Republican from Wichita told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “We wouldn’t want to.”
Pro-choice advocates see the move as part of a nationwide push against women’s rights advocates — and while it’s sounding the alarms for challenge among pro-choice advocates, numbers for supporters of organizations like Planned Parenthood are up.
“These attacks have served to energize our supporters,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards told the Kansas City Star. “We’ve gained 2 million members in the past two years.”
Rolling back Roe v. Wade
If the most recent bill is approved, as expected, Kansas will join North Dakota and Arkansas in approving legislation aimed at weakening women’s’ access to abortion providers. North Dakota recently passed a bill that would limit abortion after six weeks. Arkansas passed legislation that banned abortion after 12 weeks.
“I think they’re going to be blocked immediately by the courts,” Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup told the Kansas City Star. “They are so far outside the clear bounds of what the Supreme Court has said for 40 years.”
That’s not being disputed by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who signed the legislation with the knowledge that it will likely be challenged in court, but did so in order to see how far states could go in terms of pushing the limits on Roe v. Wade.
“Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade,” Dalrymple said.
The state has just one abortion clinic, located in Fargo, N.D. Its attorney general has said the state is willing to spend in order to defend its legislation — a factor critics claim is unfair to taxpayers, as it’s likely to be defeated.
“It’s important that the citizens of those states realize that every dollar spent to defend blatantly unconstitutional laws is taxpayers’ dollars wasted,” Northrup said.
In that famous case, the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that abortion was legal until a fetus could survive outside the womb — this is typically thought to be around the 22- to 24-week mark.
In the 1992 case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Roe v. Wade was challenged, at least the portion that questioned whether someone could be held criminally accountable for abortion before the 22- to 24-week mark.