Abortion in Kansas is legal.
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
law allows for an
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
up to 20 weeks postfertilization (22 weeks after the last menstrual period). After that point, only in cases of life or severely compromised physical health may an abortion be performed, with this limit set on the belief that a fetus can feel pain after that point in the pregnancy. The state also had detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement by 2007.
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication-induced abortions and private doctor offices in addition to abortion clinics were in place by 2013. In 2015, Kansas became the first state to ban the
dilation and evacuation
Dilation and evacuation (D&E) is the dilation of the cervix and surgical evacuation of the uterus (potentially including the fetus, placenta and other tissue) after the first trimester of pregnancy. It is a method of abortion as well as a common ...
procedure, a common second-trimester abortion procedure. State laws about abortion have been challenged at the
Kansas Supreme Court
The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the st ...
and
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
level. On August 2, 2022, Kansas voters rejected
a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Republican-controlled
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
to restrict or ban abortion in Kansas, following the overturning of
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
.
The number of
abortion clinics in the state has been declining in recent years, going from 23 in 1982, to 15 in 1992, to 4 in 2014. There were 7,219 legal abortions in 2014, and 6,931 in 2015. Almost half were obtained by out-of-state residents. The state has seen anti-abortion rights violence, including the kidnapping of a doctor in 1982 and the killing of Doctor
George Tiller
George Richard Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide ...
in 2009.
Terminology
The abortion debate most commonly relates to the
induced abortion of a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense.
[According to the Supreme Court's decision in ''Roe v. Wade'':](a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgement of the pregnant woman's attending physician. (b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. (c) For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgement, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.
Likewise, ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines abortion as "knowing destruction" or "intentional expulsion or removal". Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The terms ''elective abortion'' and ''voluntary abortion'' are defined by ''
Williams Obstetrics'' as "the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons."
Pro-life
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child", and see the medical terms "
embryo
An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
", "
zygote
A zygote (, ) is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote's genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information of a new individual organism.
In multicellula ...
", and "
fetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
" as
dehumanizing. The terms "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as
political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life". The
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".
Context
Free birth control correlates to teenage girls having fewer pregnancies and fewer abortions. A 2014
''New England Journal of Medicine'' study found such a link. At the same time, a 2011 study by
Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...
and
Ibis Reproductive Health
Charlotte Ellertson (March 2, 1966 – March 21, 2004) was named one of 50 most influential people in women's health. She is a key reason women achieved “the regulatory, clinical, and policy changes that made these methods more widely availabl ...
also found that states with more abortion restrictions have higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of uninsured pregnant women, higher rates of infant and child deaths, higher rates of teen drug and alcohol use disorders, and lower rates of cancer screening.
The study singled out
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
and Kansas as being the most restrictive states that year, followed by
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
and
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
for second in terms of abortion restrictions, and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
in third for most restrictive state abortion requirements.
According to a 2017 report from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health, states that tried to pass additional constraints on a women's ability to access legal abortions had fewer policies supporting women's health, maternal health, and children's health. These states also tended to resist expanding
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
, family leave, medical leave, and sex education in public schools.
According to Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the
Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute is a research and policy NGO that aims to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. This research organization was started in 1968 and works to study, educate, and advance sexual and reproductive health ...
, states with legislation seeking to protect a woman's right to access abortion services have the lowest rates of infant mortality in the United States.
History
Legislative history
In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens.
In 1997, the Kansas legislature passed the Woman's Right to Know Act, which required, except in the case of a medical emergency, a 24-hour period between the time that the woman is informed in writing of legally-required information and the abortion. The state passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions at 22 weeks based on the theory that a fetus can feel pain at that point in development. The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement. Some states, including Kansas, have passed laws requiring abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer and to issue other scientifically unsupported warnings. In 2013, state
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions and private doctor offices in addition to abortion clinics. An anti-abortion bill was introduced and referred to committee in February 2013. The bill was presented to the Kansas House in March 2013.
The bill was known as House Bill 2324, "An act prohibiting an abortion of an unborn human individual with a detectable fetal heartbeat." One outspoken advocate of such bills is
Mark Gietzen, who tried to gather as many signatures as possible in order to get then-Governor
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...
to convene a special session of Congress in order to consider the bill. Gietzen also advocated for a fetal heartbeat law to be passed during a special session of the Kansas legislature, to be held on September 3, 2013. HB 2324 died in committee in May 2014.
Kansas lawmakers approved sweeping anti-abortion legislation
HB 2253 on April 6, 2013, that says life begins at fertilization, forbids abortion based on gender and bans
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
from providing sex education in schools. The state was one of six that tried to ban abortions in 2013.
The state legislature was one of five states nationwide that tried, and failed, to pass a fetal heartbeat bill in 2014.
In 2015, Kansas became the first state to ban the
dilation and evacuation
Dilation and evacuation (D&E) is the dilation of the cervix and surgical evacuation of the uterus (potentially including the fetus, placenta and other tissue) after the first trimester of pregnancy. It is a method of abortion as well as a common ...
procedure, a common second-trimester abortion procedure.
[Kansas governor signs nation's 1st ban on abortion procedure - Yahoo News](_blank)
News.yahoo.com (2015-04-07). Retrieved on 2015-04-12. But the new law was later struck down by the
Kansas Court of Appeals
The Kansas Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the U.S. state of Kansas.
History
The Kansas Legislature created the first Kansas Court of Appeals in 1895, to help the Kansas Supreme Court with an increasingly heavy casel ...
in January 2016 without ever having gone into effect.
In April 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision, and ruled that the right to abortion is inherent within
the state's constitution and bill of rights, such that even if ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'' was overturned and the federal protection of abortion rights was withdrawn, the right would still be allowed within Kansas, barring a change in the state constitution. In mid-May 2019, state law banned abortion after week 22.
In 2019, women in Kansas were eligible for pregnancy accommodation and pregnancy-related temporary disability as a result of abortion or miscarriage if their employer had four or more employees. Employers were required to offer unpaid leave upon request and employees could not be punished for requesting it.
The Value Them Both Amendment
In response to the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling, on January 29, 2020, the Kansas Senate passe
SCR 1613 a proposition to add the Value Them Both Amendment to the state constitution.
The Value Them Both Amendment would overturn the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling, stating that "the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion"
SCR 1613. On February 7, 2020, the proposed amendment failed to reach the need two-thirds majority vote in the Kansas House of Representatives.
On January 22, 2021, the Kansas House of Representatives passe
HCR 5003 a new proposition to add the Value Them Both Amendment to the state constitution. Six days later on Jan. 28, the Kansas Senate passed the Amendment. The proposed amendment was voted upon in a referendum on August 2, 2022, and defeated.
The Concurrent Resolution proposed "to amend the bill of rights of the constitution of the state of Kansas by adding a new section thereto stating that there is no constitutional right to abortion, and reserving to the people the ability to regulate abortion through the elected members of the legislature of the state of Kansas."
HCR 5003
The full text of the Value Them Both Amendment states:
"Because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or when necessary to save the life of the mother."
HCR 5003
The ballot would include the following explanation:
"The Value Them Both Amendment would affirm there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion or to require the government funding of abortion, and would reserve to the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, the right to pass laws to regulate abortion, including, but not limited to, in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or when necessary to save the life of the mother. A vote for the Value Them Both Amendment would affirm there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion or to require the government funding of abortion, and would reserve to the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, the right to pass laws to regulate abortion. A vote against the Value Them Both Amendment would make no changes to the constitution of the state of Kansas, and could restrict the people, through their elected state legislators, from regulating abortion by leaving in place the recently recognized right to abortion."
HCR 5003
On August 2, Kansas voters defeated the measure; abortion remains legal in Kansas.
Judicial history
The
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
's decision in 1973's ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'' ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.
In 1983's ''
Planned Parenthood Association of Kansas City v. Ashcroft'', the US Supreme Court said the state could require two doctors be present when a third-trimester abortion was being performed and that the abortion providers for third-trimester abortions could be required to submit a pathology report to the state. The US Supreme Court did allow for only one doctor in the case of an emergency.
In 2018, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the state's 2015 abortion ban. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'' in ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...
'', later in 2022.
Clinic history
![Number of abortion clinics in Kansas by year](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Number_of_abortion_clinics_in_Kansas_by_year.png)
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by eight, going from 23 in 1982 to fifteen in 1992.
In 2014, there were four abortion clinics in the state. In 2014, 97% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 56% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. In 2017, there were two
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
clinics, both of which offered abortion services, in a state with a population of 644,117 women aged 15–49.
In 2013,
Julie Burkhart opened a clinic in
Wichita called
Trust Women Wichita, part of
Trust Women Foundation. Burkhart was a colleague of the murdered Dr.
George Tiller
George Richard Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide ...
, and by 2013 she had taken over Tiller's clinic following his murder.
Because of state law, providing abortions to women in the area added costs, both financial and time, for both the clinic and women seeking abortions.
Statistics
In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were zero recorded illegal abortion deaths in the state. In 1990, 276,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy.
In 2010, the state had zero publicly funded abortions. In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were 270 total abortions, 50 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 60 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 40 abortions for women of all other races.
Public opinion is split concerning the legal status of abortion. In 2014, 49% of adults said in a poll of 307 Kansans by the
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C.
It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
that abortion should be legal vs 49% that said it should be illegal in all or most cases. In 2016, Fort Hays State University's Kansas Speaks survey reported from a sample size of 1,043 that 26% of respondents opposed abortion in all situations, 38% were in favor of abortion is some situations, 8% were in favor of abortion in most situations, and 29% said abortion should be permitted for any woman that chooses it.
In a 2018-Midterms Voter Analysis by Fox News, using survey data from the
National Opinion Research Center
NORC at the University of Chicago is one of the largest independent social research organizations in the United States. Established in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, its corporate headquarters is located in downtown Chicago, with o ...
and
The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
with 929 respondents, 19% of those surveyed said abortion should be legal in all cases, 35% said abortion should be legal in most cases, 32% said abortion should be illegal in most cases, and 14% said abortion should be illegal in all cases. In the same analysis, with 3,905 respondents, 4% said abortion was the most important issue facing the country, of which in the
Kansas gubernatorial election, 82% voted for Republican candidate
Kris Kobach, 14% voted for Democratic candidate
Laura Kelley, 2% voted for independent candidate
Greg Orman
Gregory John Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American politician, businessman, and entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, earning 42.5 percent of the vote and losing to i ...
, and 2% voted for another candidate.
Abortion rights views and activities
![Women's March Topeka, KS 2017 (31606806664)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Women%27s_March_Topeka%2C_KS_2017_%2831606806664%29.jpg)
Protests
Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.
Anti-abortion views and activities
Activities
In 1983, Kansans for Life was formed. In 1991 in Wichita, Operation Rescue blockaded three abortion clinics over a six-week period as part of an effort they called the "Summer of Mercy".
This was one of three large pro-life protests that received extensive media coverage.
Violence
In August 1982, three men identifying as the
Army of God kidnapped
Hector Zevallos, a doctor and clinic owner, and his wife, Rosalee Jean, holding them for eight days and released them unharmed.
[Baird-Windle, Patricia & Bader, Eleanor J., (2001), ''Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism'', New York, St. Martin's Press, ] In 1993,
Shelly Shannon, an Army of God member, admitted to the attempted
murder of Dr. George Tiller.
Law enforcement officials found the ''Army of God Manual'', a tactical guide to arson, chemical attacks, invasions, and bombings buried in Shelly Shannon's backyard.
Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed by
Scott Roeder
On May 31, 2009, George Tiller, a physician from Wichita, Kansas, who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late terminations of pregnancy (also known as "late-term abortions"), was murdered by Sc ...
on May 31, 2009, as Tiller served as an usher at a church in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
.
Witnesses said that Roeder walked up and put a gun to Tiller's head before shooting him.
As a consequence of his death, his family closed the clinic where he performed abortions. The murder was one of the first occasions in the United States where a clinic closed as a result of an abortion clinic related murder.
Footnotes
References
{{Abortion by US state
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
Healthcare in Kansas
Women in Kansas