Fate of abortion in Kansas on ballot as anti-abortion rally kicks off two-month fight
Anti-abortion advocates rallied in Wichita on Monday night in favor of a constitutional amendment that would undo the right to an abortion in the Kansas Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a leaked draft opinion last month. That means Kansas’ Aug. 2 vote will likely be the first statewide abortion referendum after the federal right to an abortion is struck down.
The proposed amendment, called Value Them Both, would override a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling by allowing lawmakers to impose unlimited restrictions on abortion access.
Monday’s rally at Central Christian Church was headlined by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC), and Mercedes Schlapp, former White House director of strategic communications under President Trump.
Mercedes Schlapp energized the crowd of several hundred by likening the abortion fight to “spiritual warfare.”
“The left has declared a war on women and on motherhood and on unborn babies, and so it is our job to take that back — to protect womanhood, to protect motherhood and to protect the unborn babies,” she said.
A spokesperson for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, an abortion rights group organizing in opposition to the proposed amendment, said the August vote is about preserving access to care in the face of government interference.
“This amendment gives politicians the power to pass any law they want regarding abortion, including a total ban,” Ashley All said in a phone interview earlier in the day.
“The leaked decision and the real chance that Roe will be overturned this month very much increases the urgency and the importance of this election.”
At the anti-abortion rally, Matt Schlapp characterized the 2019 decision as judicial overreach.
“How do they find words in the Kansas Constitution that just aren’t there? We know that they’re changing the meaning of everything but you can’t find words that literally aren’t there,” he said.
Neal Allen, chair of political science at Wichita State contacted earlier in the day, called the proposed amendment a “strong favorite” to pass in August.
“Value Them Both failing wouldn’t be the most surprising result in American politics in the last 10 years, but it would certainly be up there,” Allen said.
“I think the pro-choice side is stronger in Kansas now than they’ve been in two decades or more, but it’s still a real uphill climb for the no side.”
Wichita is home to Trust Women, one of three clinics that provides abortions in Kansas. A spokesperson for the clinic said most of its patients have been from out of state since Texas banned abortion after six weeks last year.
Last month, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the nation’s strictest abortion ban into law, effectively ending availability of the procedure and further straining abortion providers in Kansas.
“The most important thing to understand about abortion care in Kansas is that it is already highly regulated and also adheres to lots of best practices and professional oversight from different medical organizations, so it is not the case that there is just no regulation of abortion here in Kansas,” Trust Women spokesperson Zack Gingrich-Gaylord said.
Currently, abortions are prohibited in Kansas after 22 weeks, except when carrying the pregnancy to term could put the mother’s life at risk or cause severe health problems.
This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 9:27 PM.