Kansas voters to decide fate of state abortion rights in country’s first ballot test since Roe reversal
When Kansas voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will be asked to decide whether the state’s Constitution should continue to protect abortion rights.
When Kansas voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will be asked to decide whether the state’s Constitution should continue to protect abortion rights.
It will be the first time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that U.S. voters cast ballots on abortion.
A proposed amendment to the state Constitution on the ballot Aug. 2, when Kansans will also select nominees in various primary elections, removes language that guarantees reproductive rights, and asks voters if they prefer to put the issue of abortion in the hands of the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.
“The amendment doesn’t ban abortion, but rather, allows the Legislature to ban abortion if it wanted to,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University, in Topeka, and expert on Kansas politics.
Anti-abortion activists argue the Kansas ballot question creates an opportunity to put the issue in the hands of the voters.Jonathan Larsen / Diadem Images / via Alamy, fileThe ballot question has been planned for more than a year, but it's taken on greater significance in the weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the nationwide constitutional right to abortion on June 24.
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