Kansas Vote To Keep Abortion Rights Bodes Well For More State Ballot Measures

Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected an amendment that would have removed abortion rights from the state’s constitution.

It’s the first time abortion rights have been placed on a state ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court in June eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, returning the issue to states. In Kansas, the proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution would have allowed legislators to further restrict or even ban abortion.

But more than 61% of voters rejected the amendment in a primary election that saw huge turnout in Kansas. With 90% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, 60% voted “no” on an amendment that would have removed protections for abortion rights while just 40% supported the effort pushed by the Republican legislature that wanted more abortion restrictions.

Supporters of abortion rights said the vote protects reproductive freedoms and could have national repercussions as more states look to enshrine abortion rights into their constitutions.

“Now that abortion is no longer a federally guaranteed right, ballot measures will continue to be essential in the fight ahead,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, which is supporting citizen-initiated ballot measures to defend reproductive rights across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in June.

“We need serious and continued investments in and attention on the ballot measure process, particularly for citizen-initiated measures so that voters can take matters into their own hands,” Hall said. “We will keep up our work with partners and organizations to advance citizen-initiated ballot measures to protect reproductive rights in states across the country, starting this November in Michigan and Vermont.”

It’s the latest success for The Fairness Project, which has been on the winning side of efforts in Republican-led states to use ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid coverage for the poor under the Affordable Care Act.

In 2020, voters in Missouri and Oklahoma approved ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid, following the lead of successful ballot initiatives in 2018 in Nebraska, Idaho and Utah. Those states, like Maine in 2017, bypassed Republican governors and legislatures to expand Medicaid by public referendum. The Fairness Project was involved in every one of those successful campaigns.

Now ballot measures are being pushed across the country for abortion rights and related reproductive freedoms.

“The Fairness Project is actively supporting citizen-initiated ballot measures to defend reproductive rights, including with a broad coalition of partners in Michigan to advance a ballot measure to affirm reproductive freedom in the Michigan state constitution,” the group said Tuesday night in a statement. “Last month, that campaign turned in more than 750,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot in November. The Fairness Project is supporting a similar campaign to protect the right to choose in Vermont, and is working through its Ballot Measure Rescue Campaign to protect the ballot measure process in states where direct democracy is under attack.”

Healthcare groups say other states should follow Kansas’ lead and put abortion rights on the ballot, calling abortion “basic healthcare” that shouldn’t be denied.

“Although federal protections for abortion rights have been rolled back by extremists on the Supreme Court, the Constitutional right to access abortion in Kansas remains intact thanks to the will of voters who know what’s best for their state,” said Health Care for America Now executive director Margarida Jorge.

“Lawmakers in other states should take notice: there is broad support for legal, safe abortion and the guaranteed right to access it,” Jorge said. “It’s time for elected leaders to focus on meeting the health care needs of the people they serve, rather than putting their political beliefs over the health of their constituents.”