TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas voters on Tuesday sent a strong message of their desire to protect abortion rights, rejecting a ballot measure in a conservative state with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten of the restrictions or categorical prohibition of the procedure.
It was the first test of voter sentiment since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June struck down the constitutional right to abortion, providing an unexpected result with potential implications for the upcoming midterm elections.
Although it was just one state, the high turnout for the August primary, which typically favors Republicans, was a big win for abortion rights advocates. With most votes counted, they were leading by about 20 percentage points, with turnout approaching that typical for fall gubernatorial elections.
The vote also offered a glimmer of hope for Democrats across the country, who are grasping for a game-changer in an election year otherwise fraught with dark omens for their prospects in November.
“This vote makes clear what we know: A majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
After urging Congress to “reinstate Roe’s protections” into federal law, Biden added, “And the American people must continue to use their votes to protect women’s right to health care, including abortion.”
The Kansas vote also provided a warning to Republicans, who celebrated the Supreme Court ruling and moved quickly with abortion bans or near-bans in nearly half the states.
“Kansans have resoundingly rejected attempts by anti-abortion politicians to create a reproductive police state,” said Kimberly Innes McGuire, executive director of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. “Today’s vote was a powerful rebuke and promise of the growing resistance.”
The proposed amendment to the Kansas constitution would add language that does not grant a right to abortion. A 2019 state Supreme Court ruling declared access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the States’ Bill of Rights, preventing a ban and potentially thwarting legislative efforts to enact new restrictions.
The referendum was closely watched as a barometer of the anger of liberal and moderate voters over the Supreme Court ruling overturning nationwide abortion rights. In Kansas, abortion opponents would not say what legislation they would pursue if the amendment passed and bristled when opponents predicted it would lead to a ban.
Mallory Carroll, spokeswoman for the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, described the vote as a “huge disappointment” for the movement and urged anti-abortion candidates to “go on the offensive.”
She added that following the US Supreme Court’s decision, “we must work exponentially harder to achieve and maintain protections for unborn children and their mothers.”
The measure’s failure was also significant because of Kansas’ ties to anti-abortion activists. The 1991 Summer of Mercy anti-abortion protests inspired abortion opponents to take over the Kansas Republican Party and make the legislature more conservative. They were there because Dr. George Tiller’s clinic was among the few clinics in the U.S. known to perform late-pregnancy abortions, and he was assassinated in 2009 by an anti-abortion extremist.
Anti-abortion lawmakers wanted the vote to coincide with the state’s August primary, arguing they wanted to make sure it would get attention, though others saw it as an obvious attempt to boost their chances of victory. Twice as many Republicans as Democrats voted in the state’s August primary in the decade leading up to Tuesday’s election.
“This result is a temporary setback and our dedicated fight to value women and babies is far from over,” said Emily Massey, spokeswoman for the Amendments Campaign.
Tuesday’s voter turnout was not typical of the Kansas primary, especially as tens of thousands of unaffiliated voters cast ballots.
Christy Winter, 52, a Kansas City-area teacher and independent voter, voted against the measure and brought her 16-year-old daughter with her to the polls.
“I want her to have the same right to do what she thinks is necessary, especially in the case of rape or incest,” she said. “I want her to have the same rights that my mother has had for most of her life.”
Opponents of the measure predicted that anti-abortion groups and lawmakers behind the measure would quickly push for an abortion ban if voters approved it. Before the vote, supporters of the measure declined to say whether they would pursue a ban as they appealed to voters who support both some restrictions and some access to abortion.
Stephanie Kostreva, a 40-year-old school nurse from the Kansas City area and a Democrat, said she voted in favor of the measure because she is a Christian and believes life begins at conception.
“I’m not entirely convinced that there should never be an abortion,” she said. “I know there are medical emergencies and when the mother’s life is in danger, there is no reason for two people to die.”
An anonymous group sent a misleading text Monday to Kansas voters telling them to “vote yes” to protect the choice, but it was stopped late Monday by the Twilio messaging platform it uses, a spokesman said. Twilio does not identify the sender.
A 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling protecting abortion rights blocked a law that would have banned the most common procedure in the second trimester, and another law imposing special health regulations on abortion providers has also been put on hold. Opponents of abortion argue that all existing state restrictions are threatened, although some legal scholars find this argument questionable. Kansas does not prohibit most abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy.
The Kansas vote is the start of what could be a long series of legal battles played out where lawmakers are more conservative on abortion than governors or state courts. Kentucky will vote in November on whether to add text similar to Kansas’ proposed amendment to the state constitution.
Meanwhile, Vermont will decide in November whether to add an abortion rights provision to its constitution. A similar question is likely to be on the November ballot in Michigan.
In Kansas, the two parties combined spent more than $14 million on their campaigns. Abortion providers and abortion rights groups were key donors to the No side, while Catholic dioceses heavily funded the Yes campaign.
The state has had a strong anti-abortion majority in its legislature for 30 years, but voters regularly elect Democratic governors, including Laura Kelly in 2018. She opposed the proposed amendment, saying that changing the state constitution would “throw the state back to the Dark Ages.”
State Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican hoping to unseat Kelly, supported the proposed constitutional amendment. He told the Catholic television network EWTN before the election that “there is still room for progress” in reducing abortions, without specifying what he would sign as governor.
Although abortion opponents had pushed for new restrictions almost every year until the state Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling, they felt constrained by past court decisions and Democratic governors like Kelly.
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Stafford reported from Overland Park and Olathe.
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