Voting for life

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 7th of June, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up: voting for life.

The Supreme Court will likely announce its opinion in the Dobbs case before the end of the month. If that decision overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion regulation will revert to the states and laws already on the books.

Some states have trigger laws in place that would automatically protect unborn babies by halting all, or almost all, abortions. Other states have taken the opposite approach with laws that guarantee access to abortion. 

REICHARD: Pro-life groups are preparing for all possibilities.

In Kansas, that includes a voter referendum. WORLD’s Lauren Dunn reports.

LAUREN DUNN, REPORTER: Mary Wilkinson has volunteered with pro-life groups since 1989. She’s now president of Kansans for Life.

Wilkinson: This summer, in particular, will be very busy. But election years are always that way. And quite honestly, I think it's going to be very busy all the way through November.

Pro-life groups in Kansas are gearing up for the state’s primary election on August 2nd—and not just because of the candidates. Kansans will be voting on a state constitutional amendment known as Value Them Both. It would clarify that the state constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion.

And that would clear the way for laws protecting unborn babies.

Ingrid Duran is the state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee.

Duran: You're just saying that there is no right to abortion or the funding of abortion. And what our opposition will say is that they're banning all abortions. And that's not true. What we're trying to do is that we're trying to effectively protect a member of our human family.

Kansas legislators have passed several laws restricting abortion over the last few decades. Those include requiring abortion center inspections and parental notification before a minor can have an abortion.

In 2015, Kansas became the first state to pass a dismemberment abortion ban, outlawing the procedure commonly known as D&E (dilation and evacuation). But four years later, the Kansas supreme court ruled the law unconstitutional. Justices said the state constitution implied a right to abortion.

Danielle Underwood is director of communications for Kansans for Life, the Kansas affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.

Underwood: So all of our laws that were in existence that were previously passed—all of them bipartisan passed—all of those became presumed unconstitutional when that ruling came down. And because of that ruling, we've already seen two of our laws overturned. So we knew that it was only a matter of time before every single one of our pro-life laws was sued and struck down based on that one decision.

Because of that concern, pro-life groups in Kansas joined together to push for the Value Them Both constitutional amendment.

Ingrid Duran says Kansas isn’t the only state doing this. Kentucky voters will consider a similar amendment in November.

Tennessee, West Virginia, and Louisiana have all approved similar measures since 2014. In 2018, Alabama went a step further and approved a constitutional amendment recognizing a right to life for unborn babies.

Duran: When you look at the map of what might happen when Roe’s dismantled, right, you have states that have pre-Roe abortion bans already on the books that they've been unenforceable because of Roe. But then you also have states that have what I mentioned earlier, the trigger law that in the event of Roe’s demise, that the state then is allowed to protect unborn children and, and for instance, Idaho is probably the only state that has a heartbeat trigger.

Some pro-lifers in Kansas are worried that without the proposed constitutional amendment their state will become an abortion destination. In 2021, half of abortions in Kansas were performed on mothers who live elsewhere.

Danielle Underwood says that’s because several nearby states have more protections for unborn babies and their mothers.

Underwood: Kansans don't want to be a destination state, we want to make sure that we have limits and safety standards to protect women who live and visit here.

Before voters could have their say, state lawmakers had to approve the amendment by a two-thirds majority. They tried and failed in 2020. But a year later, lawmakers proposed the amendment again. This time it passed both houses. Now it just needs approval from a simple majority of voters to become law.

With less than two months until the election, Underwood says Kansans for Life and its allies are hurrying to inform as many voters as possible.

Underwood: We have thousands of volunteers who are going door to door in Kansas, reaching out to educate voters and help them understand what they're voting on and why it's important. We also have volunteers who are helping in our call campaigns…This is a person to person effort and a church to church effort.

Mary Wilkinson says that means a lot of long hours ahead for volunteers. But she says the hard work is well worth it.

Wilkinson: It's really hard work to do. A lot of times, it can be very, very stressful. I'm thinking that when I complete this role as president and move into maybe some other roles that aren't as intense, that I'll look back on this time, with some satisfaction, you know, that we've made a difference.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn.

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