Election signs line the tree-lined streets of the affluent Kansas town of Leawood, with many election signs planted on neatly trimmed lawns as this Midwestern state prepares to hold its first major abortion vote since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled federal law on abortion was abolished.
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Kansas residents will go to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to amend this traditionally conservative state’s constitution to remove abortion rights guarantees.
The change’s advocates — the “Yes” supporters — say it would allow lawmakers to regulate abortion without judicial interference.
“It just restores our ability to have a conversation,” argues Mackenzie Haddix, spokeswoman for the Value Them Both movement, which is trying to end constitutional protections stemming from a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 results.
“The people of Kansas will then be able to unite (…) to reach a consensus,” she told AFP news agency during a Saturday morning rally.
Banning abortion is not the official goal of the Value Them Both campaign.
But on the other hand, activists see the constitutional amendment as a thinly veiled attempt to pave the way for an outright ban by the Republican-dominated local legislature that would follow in the footsteps of at least eight other US states since the US Supreme Court decision in June .
“Choices About Our Bodies”
Advocates on the “no” side are watching with concern as neighboring states of Missouri and Oklahoma have imposed near-total bans (Missouri does not allow exceptions for rape or incest).
In Kansas itself, a local conservative elected official introduced legislation this year that would ban all abortions for rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.
Abortion is currently legal in Kansas up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Parental authorization is required for minors.
“Ultimately, the amendment takes away the right to personal autonomy that all Kansas residents enjoy,” Ashley All, spokeswoman for the Kansans for Kansans “No” campaign, told AFP, Constitutional Freedom” (KCF).
“And being able to make decisions about our bodies, our families and our future without government interference is a right,” she added.
The vote, scheduled to coincide with the Kansas primary, will be the first opportunity for American voters to voice their views on abortion since the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade.
Other states, including California and Kentucky, are scheduled to vote on the issue in November, coinciding with midterm congressional elections where Republicans and Democrats hope to win supporters over abortion.
Anne Melia, a KCF abortion rights campaign volunteer, went door-to-door in Leawood Thursday night to campaign for her cause.
“I don’t think the government should tell women what to do,” said the 59-year-old.
Life “from conception”
Christine Vasquez, 43, says she plans to vote “yes” in hopes that an abortion ban vote would take place in the future.
“I just want lawmakers and voters to vote on this,” she told AFP. “I would vote against abortion, I think life begins at conception.”
Amid a tense abortion debate, the country will turn its eyes to Kansas on Tuesday as the results will either boost or snub both camps.
Democrats strongly support abortion rights, while conservatives generally support at least some restrictions.
But in Kansas, the political reality is more complicated.
The state is heavily Republican-leaning and has not elected a Democrat to the White House since 1964.
But Kansas’ most populous county elected a Democrat, Sharice Davids, to the House of Representatives in 2018, and the state’s governor, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat.
As for opinions on abortion, a 2021 poll by Fort Hays State University found that less than 20% of respondents in Kansas agreed abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape or incest.
Half said they think the Kansas government should not impose regulations on the circumstances under which women can have abortions.