Women and their supporters rise up against anti-abortion tyranny in Kansas August 3, 2022 11:16 AM CDT BY JOHN WOJCIK

https://peoplesworld.org/article/women-and-their-supporters-rise-up-against-anti-abortion-tyranny-in-kansas/

Calley Malloy, left, of Shawnee, Kan.; Cassie Woolworth, of Olathe, Kan.; and Dawn Rattan, right, of Shawnee, Kan., applaud during a primary watch party Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Overland Park, Kan. Kansas voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban abortion outright. | Tammy Ljungblad AP / The Kansas City Star via AP) Kansas voters Tuesday reflected the refusal of people across America to accept the tyranny of right-wing Republicans determined to tell them when, where, and how to have and raise their families. The message was clear: No politicians, women said as they streamed to the polls in record numbers in Kansas, are going to make the decision about what they do with their bodies.

By more than a 20-point margin, the people of Kansas, in sync with national polls, rejected an attempt by the extreme right to kill constitutionally-protected abortion rights in their deeply conservative state. They voted down an amendment to the state constitution that would have allowed Republican legislators to ban abortion altogether in a state that allows it now.

Kansas is an oasis surrounded by states that have passed or are working to pass draconian and dangerous anti-abortion laws.

The vote Tuesday was a reminder to the right wing that Kansans have an important progressive side to their history. When it was founded, Kansas was the first state west of the Mississippi to ban slavery within its borders, and when driving along Route 70, a U.S. highway that crosses the state, one passes near the home of the famed abolitionist John Brown. It was that history that was revived as women rose up to say “Enough” to Republicans trying to become their modern-day masters.


The resounding people’s victory for abortion rights was the first test of voter reaction after the infamous Supreme Court ruling in June that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion established in the Roe v. Wade decision.

¥ Republicans across the country—from Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on down to candidates for Congress, the Senate, governorships, and state legislative bodies—are still trying to absorb the shock as they understand clearly the implications for the mid-term elections. The vote in Kansas is an indicator that the GOP could sustain massive losses in November as a result of their overreach into the private lives of people.

While the Republicans have much to fear, abortion rights activists have much to celebrate. The turnout of an angry public determined to push back the attack on their rights resulted in a healthy margin in favor of reproductive freedom. The turnout was over 53% of eligible voters, close to what would be expected in a November gubernatorial election in Kansas rather than in a primary election held in the 100-degree heat in the “dog days” of August.

Democrats, of course, are thrilled with the result.

“This vote makes clear what we know: The majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions,” President Joe Biden declared after the vote.

After calling on Congress to “restore the protections of Roe” in federal law, Biden added, “the American people must continue to use their voices to protect the right to women’s health care, including abortion.”

' The Kansas vote has caused serious second thoughts among Republicans who were happy almost to the point of hysteria, celebrating the Supreme Court ruling and rapidly instituting abortion bans in nearly half the states.

“Kansans bluntly rejected anti-abortion politicians’ attempts at creating a reproductive police state,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity. “Today’s vote was a powerful rebuke and a promise of the mounting resistance.”

The proposed amendment to the Kansas constitution would have added language stating that it does not grant the right to abortion. A 2019 state Supreme Court decision declared that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights, preventing a ban and potentially thwarting legislative efforts to enact new restrictions. It blocked a GOP-pushed law that banned second-trimester procedures and imposed special health regulations on abortion providers.

Mallory Carroll, a spokesperson for the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, described the vote as “a huge disappointment” for the movement and called on anti-abortion candidates to “go on the offensive.”