By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A proposed abortion-related amendment that proponents are calling the Value Them Both amendment will likely be voted on by the Kansas Legislature in the coming weeks. The amendment is in response to a Kansas Supreme Court decision that found that abortion is guaranteed in the state constitution. State Representative Paul Waggoner notes that previous work by the Legislature could be undone by that ruling.
"The effect of it for Kansas is that you can't regulate, or provide any sort of oversight to abortion industry, to the procedure," Waggoner said. "A lot of the things that we'd passed about parental notification, about 24-hour waiting period, about you can't have government funding of abortion, would effectively be overturned by what the Supreme Court did."
The amendment, as proposed, would go to the voters in August of 2022.
"That's the only way you can actually change or overturn what the Kansas Supreme Court did," Waggoner said. "People again, need to understand, this isn't a total discussion about the question of abortion. All this really does is get us back legally to where we were in 2018."
Part of the reason this amendment was not on the 2020 ballot was because Republican legislators could not agree on whether or not it should be on a primary ballot or the general election ballot.
"Everybody can vote on a primary ballot," Waggoner said. "You don't have to be a Republican or Democrat to vote. It's an open issue. There is nothing that prevents anybody from voting. You know it's going to help drive a lot of votes, just simply because the pro and con side on this issue will certainly be advertising heavily."
It is believed that the Republican caucus is more likely to remain unified on this than it was last time, and if that is the case, there would be the necessary two-thirds majorities to put the amendment on the ballot.