TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ anti-abortion Republican attorney general is asking the state’s highest court to reconsider a landmark decision protecting access to abortion months after a decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights.
Attorney General Kris Kobach said Wednesday that one reason for the Kansas Supreme Court to reconsider its 2019 ruling is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade and declaring that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t grant a right to abortion access. The Kansas court is set to consider that issue and others in two abortion cases on Jan. 30, though Kobach said he is likely to ask for a few weeks’ delay because he took office only Monday.
The Kansas Supreme Court declared in 2019 that access to abortion is a matter of women’s bodily autonomy and a “fundamental” right under the state’s own Bill of Rights. The decision came in the first stage of a lawsuit challenging a 2015 state law banning the most common second-trimester abortion procedure, and the court is now considering the question of whether that not-yet-enforced law violates the state constitution. It also is considering the validity of extra health and safety regulations for abortion providers.
In August, Kansas voters in August rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution pushed by Republican legislators to overturn the 2019 Kansas court decision and allow lawmakers to ban abortion. That 2019 decision inspired two self-described abortion “abolitionists” to protest Wednesday at the Statehouse before and during Kansas Supreme Court Justice Marla Luckert’s annual State of the Judiciary address to legislators.
Democratic state Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita attorney and abortion rights supporter, said he doubts the Kansas Supreme Court will reverse itself. Following the vote against the anti-abortion measure in August, six of the seven justices, including Luckert, faced yes-or-no votes in November on whether they would stay on the bench for another six years, and all were retained by wide margins.
“The court made the right decision based on the facts and the law, and to that extent, yes, the people vindicated that decision,” Carmichael said, though he added, “I don’t expect that to impact the court in its judicial decision-making.”
