The Resilient Right to Choose: Kansas Upholds Abortion Access
A sign from the 2022 primary election in Kansas urged voters to reject a state constitutional amendment declaring no right to abortion. Photo: REUTERS/Eric Cox
July 5 (Reuters) – In a landmark decision, Kansas’ Supreme Court has struck down a law prohibiting the most common second-trimester abortion method, asserting it infringes on the right to abortion enshrined in the state constitution since 2019.
The court’s 5-1 ruling leaves intact a lower court’s block on the law, which banned the dilation and extraction procedure, barring medical emergencies. The law faced immediate legal challenges from abortion providers who argued the state constitution guarantees abortion rights. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court concurred, upholding a preliminary order in favor of the providers and remanding the case for further litigation. After a lower court ruled for the providers, the state appealed again, leading to this final Supreme Court decision.
Justice Eric Rosen, writing for the majority, reaffirmed the court’s stance: “The Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person’s right to terminate a pregnancy.” Dissenting, Justice Caleb Stegall argued that the constitution’s original meaning did not encompass abortion rights.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, hailed the ruling as “an immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region.” Conversely, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach expressed his dismay, stating, “When the word liberty was included in the constitution, no one thought they were creating a right to an abortion.”
Abortion remains legal in Kansas up to 22 weeks, with voters having rejected a measure to remove abortion rights from the state constitution in August 2022. This vote followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, leading to a cascade of abortion restrictions in Republican-led states. Consequently, Kansas has become a haven for women from nearby states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri seeking abortion services.
