Kansas, which is faced with financial shortfalls in the state budget and recently decided to pass a law saying welfare recipients cannot spend their money on cruise ships, now jumps to the front of the line when it comes to denying women the right to a procedure they are entitled to by the Constitution.
On Tuesday, Republican Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill which bans a common form of abortion during the second trimester of a pregnancy. Kansas now becomes to first and only state to impose such a sweeping and overwhelming burden on a woman’s right to choose when it comes to her reproductive health.
The law was drafted directly by the National Right to Life Committee, and it will outlaw the procedure known as dilation and evacuation (D&E), even though only 9 percent of all abortions performed in Kansas are done in the second trimester of pregnancy.
After signing the bill while surrounded by anti-choice advocates, Governor Brownback took to Twitter to announce what he had just done:
“Proud to sign SB95 protecting life at its most vulnerable stage with bipartisan support from #ksleg.”
This legislation is the latest move by those opposed to the legal medical procedure of abortion by injecting graphic and often inaccurate language into the debate. Those who call themselves “pro life” are fond of referring to the D&E procedure as “dismemberment abortion.”
Abortion rights proponents, however say D&E is the safest and most compassionate way to terminate a pregnancy in the second trimester. They also point out that the bill may well force abortion providers to consider methods that are less safe.
But the real goal of the new Kansas law is to attract the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 2007 that so-called “partial birth abortions” are not protected under federal law.
Kansas, at long last, is finally first in something, but it is hardly anything they should be proud of.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.