Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Kansas
Kansas Supreme Court strikes down GOP-backed abortion regulations
On Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court struck down a Republican-backed abortion second-trimester ban and affirmed that the state’s constitution protects abortion access, with one justice dissenting.
In two separate decisions released on Friday, the court ruled, “The Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person’s right to terminate a pregnancy.” The Court also ruled against several state licensing requirements for abortion providers.
The decisions blocked enforcement of a 2015 law supported by Republican legislators that banned the common second-trimester abortion procedure of dilation and evacuation. The Court found that S.B. 95, known as Unborn Protection from Dismemberment Act, violates the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and “impairs the right to abortion.”
Newsweek reached out to the Kansas Republican Party for comment via email Friday afternoon. Newsweek reached out via text message to the Party’s chair, Mike Brown, on Friday afternoon.
Allie Utley, left, and Jae Moyer, center, of Overland Park, react during a primary watch party Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, at the Overland Park, Kansas Convention Center. Kansas’ highest court on Friday, July 5, 2024, struck down state laws regulating abortion providers more strictly than other health care providers and banning a common second-trimester procedure, reaffirming its stance that the state constitution protects abortion access.
Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star via AP
Kansas, a reliably conservative state for decades, has been at the center of national abortion debates in the past few years. In August 2022, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision which eliminated the federal right to abortion, Kansans overwhelmingly rejected an amendment that sought to remove abortion protections from the state constitution. It was the first vote in the nation of its kind since Dobbs. The majority referenced the 2022 vote in their opinion, stating, “The people spoke with their votes.”
Abortion care advocates have applauded the decisions, such as the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which filed one of the cases on behalf of an abortion care provider. Nancy Northup, CRR’s president and chief executive officer called the ruling an “immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region, where millions have been cut off from abortion access.”
The statement highlighted that “The number of abortions provided in Kansas increased by 57% in 2022, with over two-thirds of patients traveling from out of state,” as reported by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. This reflects a broader trend of patients from states with more restrictive abortion laws seeking medical services in Kansas.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Kansas has experienced a significant uptick in abortions, largely due to out-of-state patients, presumably from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion policies such as Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports abortion rights, released a report last month that found abortion clinics increase by 50 percent between 2020 and 2023 in Kansas.
Newsweek reached out to the Americans United for Life for comment via email on Friday.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.