Kansas
Kansas bill would make providers ask women why they’re seeking abortions
Topeka, Kansas — Kansas would require abortion providers to ask patients why they’re terminating their pregnancies and report the answers to the state under a measure moving through the Republican-controlled Legislature. Frustrated Democrats are pointedly suggesting a similar rule for vasectomies and erectile dysfunction.
The state House planned to take a final vote Thursday. The bill would require providers to ask patients 11 questions about their reasons for terminating a pregnancy, including that they can’t afford another child, raising a child would hinder their education or careers, or a spouse or partner wanted her to have an abortion. At least seven states require similar reporting.
Backers of the bill argued during a House debate Wednesday that the state needs data so lawmakers can create programs to address their concerns. Opponents saw an attempt to harass abortion providers, shame patients and stigmatize abortion.
Approval in the House would send the measure to the Senate. Both chambers have large anti-abortion majorities, and last year Republicans overrode vetoes of other restrictions on providers by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, a strong supporter of abortion rights.
Democrats are frustrated because Republicans and anti-abortion groups have pursued new rules for abortion providers and aid to anti-abortion counseling centers despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 to protect abortion rights under the state constitution.
“Quite honestly, I don’t understand it, you know, because I think Kansans made it very, very clear how they want Kansas to operate in this arena,” Kelly said during a brief Associated Press interview. “Why would an elected official who’s facing an election in November go against the wishes of their constituents?”
Democrats fight back
Unable to stop the bill from passing – and possibly becoming law – Democrats, particularly female lawmakers, attacked what they saw as the unfairness of requiring women to face detailed questions about their motives for seeking health care when men would not. Democrats started with vasectomies.
Then, Kansas City-area Democratic Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton called erectile dysfunction “a scourge” that lowered the state’s birth rate. She suggested requiring doctors to ask male patients whether they wanted to treat it because a spouse wanted that or because it caused the man stress or embarrassment.
“If we are going to subject one group to humiliating questions when they get legal health care, then all groups should be subjected to humiliating questions when they get legal health care,” she said. “Or we can vote against this bill.”
Republicans argued that doctors often ask patients questions when they seek care, including about their mental health and whether they have guns in their homes.
“This is about abortion reporting. It has nothing to do with the male body parts,” said House health committee Chair Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican.
In Kansas, a doctor who provides an abortion already are must report the patient’s age and ethnicity, whether the person was married, and the method used to terminate a pregnancy.
The state allows abortions for almost any reason until the 22nd week of pregnancy, and that wouldn’t change under the bill.
Similar laws elsewhere
States requiring doctors to report the reasons for an abortion include Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah. Minnesota’s Democratic-controlled Legislature repealed its similar reporting requirement last year.
The law in Oklahoma, where most abortions are banned, includes a list of more than 30 questions that a provider must ask a patient about her motives. Potential reasons include relationship problems and not feeling mature enough to raise a child.
“Everyone on both sides of this issue should agree on the need for better reporting,” said Tessa Longbons Cox, a senior research associate at the anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute.
But none of the other states with such a reporting law have had a statewide vote on protecting abortion rights, as Kansas has. In pursuing anti-abortion measures, Republican lawmakers have said their new rules don’t go against voters’ wish to maintain some abortion access.
“This bill has nothing to do with eliminating abortion in Kansas, doesn’t ban it, doesn’t touch on that whatsoever,” Landwehr said. “I’ve respected that vote.”
The Detroit Tigers were beaten by the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Saturday night.
Michael Wacha pitched seven scoreless innings, Bobby Witt Jr. hit an inside-the-park home run on a grounder and Michael Massey had a three-run homer for the Royals, who will go for the series sweep on Sunday night.
Witt hit the ball down the right-field line in the first inning that bounced off the wall and eluded right fielder Kerry Carpenter. Witt motored around the bases and beat the relay throw to the plate for a two-run homer.
It was the Royals’ first inside-the-park home run since Witt did it in August 2023.
Carpenter left the game later with left shoulder soreness.
Wacha (4-2) gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six. It was his longest scoreless outing since throwing eight scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox on April 11.
Burch Smith (0-2) took the loss. He retired only one of the four batters he faced, allowing two runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
Massey’s homer in the fourth inning came with runners on first and third with two outs. He lined the ball over the right-center field fence for his third homer of the season.
Wacha had at least one strikeout in each of his first four innings. The Tigers loaded the bases in the fifth on a double, a walk and a hit batter, but Wacha got Matt Vierling to ground out to end the inning.
The Tigers scored in the eighth on a two-out double by Riley Greene.
Up next
The teams conclude the three-game series Sunday. The Tigers have not announced a starter, though manager AJ Hinch said it will be a bullpen game. Kansas City will send LHP Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.40 ERA) to the mound.
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chiefs are exploring long-term solutions at tight end beyond Travis Kelce’s expected 2026 retirement.
- One potential move involves targeting a veteran player from a team transitioning to a new starter at the position.
- The deal’s structure hinges on future playoff performance, creating a high-stakes incentive for both franchises.
While the 2026 draft is just in the books, it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2027 season — and if there’s one team that’s already looking that far ahead, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs.
Star tight end Travis Kelce is almost certainly retiring after the 2026 campaign despite an inflated new deal, and looking at the Chiefs’ depth chart, backup Noah Gray is not starting-caliber material. You could argue the team can scout for star talent in next year’s draft, but that would come with significant risk and opportunity cost if a prospect isn’t immediately NFL-ready.
Instead, there’s a potential solution general manager Brett Veach can utilize by acquiring an excess asset from another team.
This Chiefs-Bears trade solves Kansas City’s Travis Kelce problem
The Chicago Bears are clearly moving forward with 2025 first-round pick Colston Loveland as their TE1, in addition to taking blocking specialist Sam Roush out of Stanford in this year’s draft. All of which leaves backup — and previous starter — Cole Kmet on the outside looking in. The 27-year-old still has a lot of high-quality football left to play, and he’d certainly sign off on the opportunity to get starting snaps for a team with a championship window still wide open.
The problem is going to be convincing Chicago to pick up the phone in the first place. Kmet signed a restructured deal in April which disincentivizes the Bears from moving him until next year. A pre-June 1 deal would cost Chicago $4.1 million against the salary cap, while any swap after that date only saves the team $1.4 million.
So, with the present season not really an option, these two teams would need to be negotiating with next year in mind as Kmet is projected to cost the Bears $15.4 million against the cap in 2027. That’s the incentive Chicago needs to move him.
At the moment, Kmet is worth a conditional 2027 fifth-round pick — which may sound cheap, but the devil is in the details. Chicago will certainly dictate that an escalator be attached to the pick: For example, if Kansas City misses the playoffs in 2027, then it remains a fifth-rounder but may be deferred until 2028. If they qualify for the postseason then it could stay in 2027. A championship could push it up a round or two (though that would be a tough sell for the Chiefs).
Kmet has topped 500 receiving yards in three of his six seasons in Chicago, so there’s a good reason for Kansas City to inquire about his availability. The Bears, in turn, used a third-round pick to select Stanford’s Sam Roush – signaling they too are preparing for Kmet’s eventual departure.
Follow
Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.
At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.
The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.
The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.
The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.
The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.
But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.
“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”
Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.
“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”
Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.
“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.
He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”
In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.
But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.
There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.
“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.
“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
-
California2 minutes agoAfter exile, California tribes could help run their ancestral redwoods again
-
Connecticut14 minutes ago
Alicia (Plikaitis) Helen Junghans Obituary
-
Delaware20 minutes agoMiddletown runs away with record, team title at New Castle County meet
-
Florida26 minutes agoPalm Bay, Florida parents of premature twins held NICU wedding
-
Georgia32 minutes ago‘We’re champs’: How Georgia baseball soaked up first SEC title in 18 years
-
Hawaii38 minutes agoHilo tsunami clock memorial to be moved? – Hawaii Tribune-Herald
-
Idaho44 minutes agoIdaho Stop ordinance seen as progress for cyclists, supporters say | Jefferson City News-Tribune
-
Illinois50 minutes ago20-year-old motorcyclist killed in crash in Oswego, Illinois, police say
