The Kansas Legislature has just voted on and passed HCR 5003, a resolution that places an amendment on the August, 2022 primary ballot in Kansas. If more than half of the people who vote in that election vote in favor, it will explicitly remove from the Kansas Constitution the right of all Kansans to makes their own reproductive health choices.

As passed, the language of the amendment very simply removes the right to abortion from the Constitution. It does not contain any provisions for circumstances such as rape, incest, or the health of the pregnant person. It puts health decisions between patients and their doctors in the hands of elected legislators, passing few of whom are doctors.

It has to be said that the amendment does not outright ban abortions, as that would require the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, during the debate, in both the Kansas House and Senate, extremist lawmakers expressed more than once how excited they were to use this amendment to eventually ban abortion in Kansas. In the meantime, this would give them every opportunity to dream up and pass regulations to further hurt people already in one of the most difficult situations they will ever face.

The arguments in favor of this amendment were specious, mostly centering around untrue claims about what would happen if the Constitution were allowed to stand.

• They brought up (again) one specific health violation at a clinic from fifteen years ago, claiming that all abortion-providing clinics would devolve into filthy, dangerous, unregulated charnel houses. Abortions remain one of the safest medical procedures, safer even than dental surgery, and abortion-providing clinics would remain bound by the very same health and safety regulations that keep other health clinics safe for the public. It does not require a special law singling out these caregivers.
• They argued that Kansas would become a haven for the "abortion industry" and would attract people from all over the country for our "unregulated" abortions. They insist on using the "abortion industry" term because it brings to mind for-profit enterprises where the bottom line is more important than the people involved. But they never admit that abortion-providing clinics are nonprofit entities only looking to provide health care for those who want it. There is no "abortion industry," except in their minds.
• And simmering under the surface, always, was the understanding that their religion abhors the rights of individuals to control their own reproduction, whether through science-based sexual education, comprehensive access to health care and family planning, or the right to make the most difficult choices without strangers breathing down their necks. Let us be clear, the pro-life position is largely based in religious morality, and that has absolutely no place in our laws. This would be an imposition of one religious morality, by the government, on all Kansans of any religion or lack thereof.

How did they vote?

The next election for members of the Kansas House of Representatives is in 2022, the same year this amendment will be on the primary ballot. Kansas Senators will be up for re-election in 2024.

• Find out who represents you with ksleglookup.org
• Find them on the lists below
• Make sure they know how you will be voting when their time comes. ksleglookup.org has their email addresses

These are the legislators who voted to strip Kansans of the basic right to control their own reproductive decisions. They voted "Yea" on HCR 5003.