All eligible Kansans should vote on constitutional amendment question, regardless of stance
A potential reversal of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision changes the stakes for an August anti-abortion constitutional amendment in Kansas.
A draft U.S. Supreme Court decision indicates a majority of the court supports striking down Roe v. Wade.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the amendment not only will dictate the future of health care access in Kansas but also serve as the first major post-Roe landmark in the United States. For the moment, abortion remains legal in Kansas — which has two abortion clinics in suburban Kansas City and two in Wichita — and the United States as a whole.
Lawmakers voted in 2021 controversially to place the amendment on the August partisan primary ballot. We firmly believe putting the amendment on a primary ballot was a decision made with a clear partisan agenda.
The move came after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a 2019 decision that the state constitution confers the right to an abortion, striking down a first-in-the-nation measure to ban dilation-and-evacuation procedures, a common second trimester abortion practice. That spurned conservative leaders to push forward the amendment during the Kansas primary election despite calls to put the question on the general ballot in November.
We’re watching this closely.
Are we seeing the beginning of a slippery slope of unsettling a settled law? What does that mean for other settled law?
It is of note that more than 60% of residents oppose making abortion completely illegal in Kansas, according to a poll conducted by Fort Hays State University earlier this year.
It’s also noteworthy that as of mid-February, the principle anti-abortion coalition, the Value Them Both Association, had the financial upper hand, raising over $1.2 million in 2021. Of that total, $385,000 came from Kansans for Life, with a combined contribution of $750,000 from the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., and Diocese Wichita.
We’re here to remind everyone that anyone registered to vote can and should participate in this election — not just Republicans and Democrats as is typically the case in Kansas primaries.
Regardless of where you stand on this issue, it’s important that every eligible voter cast their ballot. Participation in the process is the only way to ensure the will of the people becomes the supreme law of the land.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: All eligible Kansans should vote on constitutional amendment question
