Abortion advocates score a point in the US: Kansas will not restrict it

President Joe Biden applauded the decision: “Kansasians used their voices to protect women’s right to choose and access to reproductive health care”

Kansas has decided to maintain the right to abortion in the first popular consultation on the issue since the Supreme Court of the United States ended the federal right to that procedure in June. This conservative Midwestern state in the United States rejected an amendment known as ‘Value Them Both’, which would have eliminated this constitutional right.

The vote is seen as a test across the country as Republican-dominated legislatures race to impose strict abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Abortion rights advocates celebrated the victory. “I’m beside myself,” confessed Anne Melia, a volunteer for the pro-abortion campaign. Moments after the polls closed, Scott Schwab, who supervised the elections in Kansas, declared that the participation was at least 50%, a figure expected for this type of election, local media reported.

President Joe Biden applauded the decision. “Kansasians used their voices to protect women’s right to choose and access to reproductive health care,” he wrote on Twitter.

“This is an important victory for Kansas, but also for every American who believes women should be able to make their own health decisions without government interference,” she tweeted. In a separate statement, she urged Congress to “listen to the will of the American people” and pass a bill codifying abortion rights.

Other states, including California and Kentucky, will vote on the issue in November, along with midterm elections, in which both Republicans and Democrats hope to rally supporters across the country around abortion.

Activists saw the amendment as an attempt to clear the way for an outright ban. A state legislator has already introduced a bill to ban abortion without exception, whether for rape, incest or risk to the life of the mother.

While abortion-rights advocates in Kansas could breathe a sigh of relief in their own state, they still look nervously at neighboring Oklahoma and Missouri, which have almost completely banned abortions, while Indiana has many restrictions.

“Kansas stood up for fundamental rights today,” tweeted state Governor Laura Kelly. “We rejected divisive legislation that jeopardized our economic future and put women’s access to healthcare at risk,” she added.

A 2021 Fort Hays State University survey found that less than 20% of respondents in that state agreed that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape or incest.