Citizens go to the polls this Tuesday while the US Justice prohibits interrupting pregnancy in Kentucky to give “guarantees” to women and unborn children
Since the US Supreme Court ruled against abortion last June, the States have in their hands to decide whether to make it illegal, limit it or allow it. Missouri was the first to ban it. Then it was Mississippi. Today it is the turn of Kansas, the first territory in the country to allow its inhabitants to decide at the polls whether or not to protect the right to terminate pregnancy. Tuesday’s vote focuses on a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that guarantees access to abortion up to the twenty-second week of pregnancy.
This vote is a test to see how a traditionally conservative State reacts to the annulment of the 1973 ruling that protected the right of women to decide on their own bodies. Other territories such as California and Vermont will debate in the fall about bringing abortion protection to the polls.
Defenders of the right to terminate pregnancy have criticized obstacles in the vote, such as the convoluted wording in the only question on the ballot that confuses citizens. The text states the following: “Because Kansans value both women and children, the Kansas State Constitution does not require the Government to fund abortion and does not create or guarantee the right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the United States Constitution, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass abortion laws, including, but not limited to, laws that take into account the circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother. After that there are two answers, yes or no.
confusing ballots
The complexity of the question has provoked rejection in the voters. “They did it on purpose to confuse people, because a ‘no’ vote means you support the election,” Anne Melia, 62, a Kansas volunteer for Constitutional Freedom, a group of key opposition. “It is misleading and false. And there are a lot of intense feelings on both sides, “adds the woman. That is, voting ‘no’ means supporting the right to abortion, while voting ‘yes’ would nullify its protection.
Kansas has for years been a bastion of activism against termination of pregnancy. During the ‘Summer of Mercy’ protests in 1991, thousands of anti-abortion protesters rallied in Wichita and were arrested in sit-ins and blockades of abortion clinics. And in 2009 an anti-abortion extremist murdered George Tiller, one of the few third-trimester abortion providers.
On the other hand, a United States appeals court has banned abortion in Kentucky, agreeing with Republican prosecutor Daniel Cameron, who applauded the measure on Tuesday and insisted that he will continue working to “defend the constitutionality of these guarantees for women and unborn children. The measure takes place after a judge last June blocked the laws that govern this practice in the region and that suppose the prohibition of it in its entirety unless the life of the mother is in serious danger. “I appreciate the court’s decision, which allows Kentucky’s pro-life laws to take effect,” Cameron said on Twitter.
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