Kansas voted Tuesday in favor of maintaining the right to abortion in the first popular consultation on the subject since the Supreme Court of the United States ended the federal right to that procedure in June.
This conservative Midwestern state in the United States rejected an amendment known as “Value Them Both” (Value both), which would have eliminated the constitutional right of the state with the aim of returning to legislators the regulation of the procedure.
This amendment was introduced in the Republican-dominated state Congress by a group of legislators.
The vote is widely seen as a test of abortion rights across the country, as Republican-dominated legislatures rush to impose strict bans on the procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. of 1973, which guaranteed that right.
Abortion rights advocates celebrated the victory. “I’m beside myself,” confessed Anne Melia, a volunteer for the pro-abortion campaign.
Moments after the polls closed at 7:00 pm local, Scott Schwab, who supervised the elections in Kansas, declared that the participation was at least 50%, a figure expected for this type of election, local media reported.
By noon, 250 voters had voted at the Olathe polling station, the same number as in an all-day presidential election, according to election official Marsha Barrett.
“These elections are crazy,” Barrett told AFP. “People are determined to vote.”
President Joe Biden applauded the decision. “Tonight, Kansas residents used their voices to protect women’s right to choose and access to reproductive health care,” she wrote on Twitter.
“This is an important victory for Kansas, but also for every American who believes women should be able to make their own health decisions without government interference,” she tweeted.
In a separate statement, he urged Congress to “listen to the will of the American people” and pass a bill codifying abortion rights.
Other states, including California and Kentucky, will vote on the issue in November, along with midterm elections, in which both Republicans and Democrats hope to rally supporters across the country around abortion.
“Remarkable” result
Activists saw the amendment as an attempt to clear the way for an outright ban. A state legislator has already introduced a bill to ban abortion without exception, whether for rape, incest or risk to the life of the mother.
For Ashley All, spokesperson for the pro-abortion Kanseños for Constitutional Freedom campaign, Tuesday’s election result was “remarkable.” “Kansas understood that this amendment would require the government to control private medical decisions,” she said. .
Morgan Spoor, 19, voted for the first time, wanting to promote “the right to choose.”
“I really want to make my voice heard, especially as a woman. I don’t think anyone can say what a woman can do with her body,” she says.
By contrast, Sylvia Brantley, 60, earlier said “yes” to the amendment because she believes “babies count, too.” He explained that he wanted more regulations so that Kansas would not be a place “where babies are killed.”
The Kansas result involves upholding a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that guarantees access to abortion up to the 22nd week of gestation.
Kansas tends to support the Republican Party, which favors stricter abortion regulation, but a 2021 Fort Hays State University poll found that fewer than 20% of respondents in that state agreed that abortion should be legal. illegal even in cases of rape or incest.
