Kansas Senate Sends Antiabortion-Rights Bill To Gov. Sebelius' Desk

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 20 Mar 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The Kansas Senate approved an anti-abortion bill (S.B. 238) on Tuesday by a vote of 32-6 that would require a woman seeking an abortion to be offered an opportunity to view an ultrasound, mandate that the state create and distribute pamphlets and a video about abortion, and require abortion clinics to post signs stating that coerced abortions are illegal. The legislation sets up "another abortion showdown" between the Legislature and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama's nominee for HHS secretary, the Wichita Eagle reports. Last year, Sebelius vetoed even broader antiabortion legislation, saying that many provisions in that bill were unconstitutional. According to the Eagle, the bill proposed last year "would have gone much further," requiring the state to collect more data on certain abortion procedures, increasing prosecutors' power to access state reports on abortions and allowing relatives of women who have abortions to sue providers in some cases. Sebelius has 10 days to act on the new measure. She has not indicated whether she plans to veto the bill, which has more than the two-thirds support in the state House and Senate needed to override a veto, according to the Eagle (Klepper, Wichita Eagle, 3/18).

According to KSNW News/MSNBC.com, advocates on both sides of the abortion debate say that that the timing of the bill puts Sebelius in a "difficult position." Abortion-rights opponents have opposed her nomination for HHS secretary, and abortion-rights supporters say that the "timing of the bill is no accident," KSNW News/MSNBC.com reports. Julie Burkhart of the abortion-rights group ProKanDo said, "It's meant to put her in a precarious situation." She added, "What this bill does and what it says is that women do not have the intellectual capacity to make good health care decisions for themselves." Abortion-rights proponents also are concerned with the bill’s mandates that the state and abortion providers provide women information about hospitals offering prenatal services and antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers (KSNW News/MSNBC.com, 3/18). In addition, abortion providers say that offering an ultrasound is typical protocol for their clinics already, the Eagle reports. Holly Weatherford of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri said the bill is an attempt to limit abortion rights by imposing new rules on providers (Wichita Eagle, 3/18).

David Gittrich of Kansans for Life said that the bill "allows women to look for all the information, which we think she should have before she makes a permanent and irreversible decision" (KSNW News/MSNBC.com, 3/18). Kathy Ostrowski, also of Kansans for Life, said Sebelius will "be tempted to pass it," adding, "I can't imagine how she could veto this bill, especially since she's up for" HHS secretary (Wichita Eagle, 3/18).

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