(Leawood) Voters in Kansas, in the central United States, voted in favor of upholding the constitutional abortion guarantee on Tuesday, in the first major ballot on abortion since the United States Supreme Court canceled the federal right to abortion.
Updated yesterday at 10:57 p.m.
Voters in this conservative state rejected an amendment that would have removed text guaranteeing the right to abortion in the state Constitution and could have paved the way for stricter regulation or a ban.
They had to say whether or not the Constitution of this traditionally conservative state should be amended to remove the guarantee of the right to abortion.
Beyond the very concrete consequences that this vote could have had for the inhabitants of Kansas, the ballot was seen as a political test at the national level, many conservative states having already prohibited or intending to rapidly prohibit any right to abortion.
Moments after the polls closed at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. Montreal time), Kansas election overseer Scott Schwab said turnout was at least 50%, a figure in line with expectations. for this type of ballot, local media reported.
By noon, nearly 250 voters had passed through the Olathe polling station, in the suburbs of Kansas City, the same number at this time as during a presidential election, according to electoral agent Marsha Barrett.
“This election is crazy,” she told AFP. “People are determined to vote.”
Those in favor of the change, the “yes” supporters, claimed that it would allow lawmakers to regulate abortion without interference from the judiciary. The “Value Them Both” campaign – “Both count”, referring to the woman and the fetus – assures us that banning abortion is not its objective.
But on the opposite side, the “no” camp, activists saw the constitutional amendment as a thinly veiled attempt to pave the way for a clear cut ban by the Republican-dominated local parliament, which would thus follow in the footsteps of at least eight other American states since the decision of the United States Supreme Court in June.
Morgan Spoor, 19, was voting for the first time and said he wanted to promote “the right to choose”.
Prairie Village resident Chris Ehly also spoke out against changing the Constitution to “respect” his wife and daughter, “categorical on the issue,” he told AFP.
“I really want to make my voice heard, especially as a woman. I don’t think anyone can say what a woman can do with her body,” she says.
On the contrary, Sylvia Brantley, 60, said “yes” to the change, because she believes that “babies matter too”.
She said she wants more regulations, so that Kansas isn’t a place “where babies are killed.”
Complicated political reality
Proponents of the “no” side watched anxiously as neighboring states of Missouri and Oklahoma imposed near-total bans. Missouri does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
Other states, including California and Kentucky, are due to vote on the issue in November, coinciding with midterm congressional elections in which Republicans and Democrats hope to rally their supporters around abortion.
In Kansas itself, a local conservative elected official introduced a bill this year that would ban abortion without exception for rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.
Currently, abortion is legal in Kansas up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Parental authorization is required for minors.
The vote, which coincides with the Kansas primaries, was the first opportunity for American voters to express their views on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade.
Democrats strongly support abortion rights, while conservatives generally support at least some restrictions.
But in Kansas, the political reality is more complicated.
The state leans heavily Republican and has not voted for a Democrat in the White House since 1964.
But Kansas’ most populous county elected a Democrat, Sharice Davids, to the House of Representatives in 2018, and state Governor Laura Kelly is a Democrat.
According to a 2021 poll, less than 20% of Kansas respondents agreed that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape or incest.