The ‘rape exception’ and the politics of abortion access in Kansas

Authorities regulation of girls who grow to be pregnant from rape has abruptly grabbed nationwide headlines. That’s as a result of state legislatures round America are contemplating quite a few controversial payments that might ban abortion entry for these ladies.

In Kansas this yr, a conservative lawmaker launched Home Invoice 2746. It bans abortion besides in very restricted circumstances, with no exception for rape, incest or many threats to a girl’s life or well being. It additionally seemingly permits the prosecution of sure ladies who get abortions and their docs.

HB 2746 didn’t get severe consideration, however the Home majority chief didn’t rule out contemplating it subsequent yr when chatting with the Kansas Metropolis Star.

That “subsequent yr” half is vital.

Proper now, abortion is authorized in Kansas however with important limitations imposed by the Legislature. Nonetheless, which may quickly change.

If the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturns Roe v. Wade this yr and if the abortion modification on the August main poll in Kansas passes, then the Kansas Legislature might go one thing like HB 2746 and it might really be enforced.

If that August modification fails, then one thing like HB 2746 would doubtless not be enforceable in Kansas, it doesn’t matter what occurs to Roe. Put merely, the August abortion vote decides the way forward for abortion entry in Kansas.

Since “the rape exception” is getting nationwide headlines, let’s focus there. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported 1,190 rapes in Kansas in 2020, although the actual quantity is probably going greater since sexual assault usually goes unreported.

There is no such thing as a consensus on what number of rapes end in being pregnant, however 5% is commonly cited from a 1996 research. On condition that, then a minimum of 60 Kansas ladies doubtless turned pregnant from rape in 2020. That appears small, except it’s you or a beloved one.

The rape exception has lengthy bothered anti-abortion activists, courting a minimum of to Eugene Quay’s well-known 1961 Georgetown Regulation Journal article. These activists generally argue that girls will simply lie about being raped if rape exceptions to abortion bans are allowed. Some have additionally superior junk science saying that rape can’t trigger being pregnant, which impressed Todd Akin’s controversial “official rape” remark in Missouri in 2012.

The rape exception has broad assist in Kansas. The 2021 Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State College reveals that solely 20% of Kansas adults assist banning abortion in instances of rape.

That’s a troublesome realty for anti-abortion activists. If their true endgame is one thing like HB 2746 that bans abortion in Kansas even for rape victims, saying that publicly received’t win votes this August.

As a substitute, many modification supporters are distorting the difficulty into one thing extra palatable, falsely claiming that the 2019 Hodes ruling from the Kansas Supreme Court docket declared each abortion restriction in Kansas unlawful and bans the legislature from regulating abortion.

However that’s not actuality, and never what Hodes really did. Reasonably, it’s a hypothetical authorized argument, not like HB 2746 which really exists. Three years after Hodes, abortion continues to be closely restricted in Kansas. The sky hasn’t fallen on abortion laws.

Borrowing a phrase from the late Republican Sen. John Warner, the everyday Kansan is “pro-choice with limitations, pro-life with exceptions.” The destiny of abortion in Kansas is in our ambivalent palms this August.

Kansans deserve forthright dialogue in regards to the advanced actuality right here and the precise stakes of this abortion vote.

Patrick R. Miller is an affiliate professor of political science on the College of Kansas.