Kansas
Kansas House committee considers abortion coercion bill, funding for anti-abortion services • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Rep. Rebecca Schmoe says a doctor once tried to talk her into seeking an abortion over concerns that she and her baby would die if she tried to give birth.
Schmoe, an Ottawa Republican, introduced House Bill 2813 to create the felony crime of “coercion” for persuading someone to terminate a pregnancy against their will. She testified in support of the legislation Tuesday before a House committee.
She said the doctor in her case spent more than an hour trying to persuade her to have an abortion.
“I was called selfish at least 10 times, and then I stopped counting,” Schmoe said. “I was told that my parents were going to have to pick out my casket. I was told that my parents were going to have to make all the arrangements. He asked me at one point what kind of flowers I wanted at my funeral.”
“Not only was he wrong about me dying,” she added, “he was wrong about my baby dying. That child is now 21 years old. And he is absolutely amazing. I wouldn’t trade a moment of time with him.”
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony on Schmoe’s bill, as well as House Bill 2809, which is designed to funnel $5.8 million into efforts to pressure women not to terminate a pregnancy.
Advocates of criminalizing coercion said women can be forced into choosing an abortion by an overbearing parent, a scared boyfriend, their trafficker, or, as Schmoe recounted, a doctor.
Anytime someone uses threat of violence, or threat of harming your financial situation, threat of anything that has to do with how you function as a human being, and how you go about living your life, that is wrong,” Schmoe said.
The only opponent to the bill, the Kansas Birth Justice Society, argued that the bill was too narrow in scope and should be broadened to address coercion related to contraception.
‘Almost certain squandering’
Prominent anti-abortion groups — Kansans for Life, Kansas Family Voice and the Kansas Catholic Conference — squared off with reproductive-rights groups over the merits of directing more money toward crisis pregnancy centers to deter abortions.
HB 2809 is the latest in a series of bills that would provide similar funding mechanism exclusively tailored toward organizations that promote childbirth. The organizations would be paid to provide “medically accurate pregnancy-related information” and adoption marketing materials, as well as services that include counseling and developing parental skills.
Those services would be discontinued to women who choose to have an abortion, or who have a miscarriage or stillbirth.
Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican who chairs the committee, tried to tamp down heated debate by declaring “this bill is not about abortion.”
Taylor Morton, lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, said the bill was written so that only crisis pregnancy centers would be eligible for state funding. Those organizations, she said, are widely considered to be unethical by health care professionals, including the American college of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association.
The centers “employ a myriad of misleading and harmful tactics to dissuade pregnant people from seeking abortion care,” Morton said.
For example, she said, the centers misrepresent abortion safety and assert false risks of abortion. They also intentionally overestimate the stage of an individual’s pregnancy to falsely suggest they are too far along to access abortion.
Some centers falsely represent themselves as a legitimate, regulated health care clinic, even though staff and volunteers have no medical qualifications, Morton said.
Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, a spokesman for Trust Women Foundation, said the organization is “deeply concerned with the bill’s unnecessary and almost certain squandering of resources that could otherwise support existing state programs that directly benefit struggling families.”
He said the proposal is “at least the third bill introduced in the Legislature this year that creates a channel for state taxpayer funds to be diverted into anti-abortion organizations, including crisis pregnancy centers and anti-abortion marketing firms.”
Gingrich-Gaylord proposed lawmakers instead expand Medicaid, support birthing centers, remove barriers to contraceptives, expand access to doulas and midwives, and advocate for equitable maternal health care.
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.
According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.
Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.
Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.
Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday
Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.
Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.
Copyright 2026 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Wednesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
6A Boys West Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka High 57, Washburn Rural 50 (will play Maize Saturday)
- Junction City 70, Dodge City 56 (will play Derby Saturday)
- Manhattan 58, Wichita-Northwest 56 (will play Wichita-East Saturday)
4A Boys East Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 62, Louisberg 57 (will play Bishop Miege Saturday)
- Atchison 74, Wamego 43
- Hayden 72, Independence 56 (will play Atchison Saturday)
- Eudora 76, Santa Fe Trail 68
GIRLS
5A West Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hays 80, Topeka West 18
- Eisenhower 55, Seaman 41
- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 71, Emporia 41
5A East Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Shawnee Heights 89, Sumner 15 (will play Pittsburg Saturday)
- Basehor-Linwood 74, Highland Park 28 (will play Piper Saturday)
3A Pomona-West Franklin Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Osage City 75, Columbus 31 (will play Frontenac Saturday)
3A Sabetha Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Silver Lake 48, Nemaha Central 26 (will play Riley County Saturday)
- Riley County 51, Jeff West 40 (will play Silver Lake)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
- Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)
5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
- Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
- Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)
3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)
3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
- Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)
GIRLS
6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
- Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
- Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)
4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
- Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
- Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)
2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
- Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
- Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
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