The Kansas legislature on April 29 overrode vetoes from Gov. Laura Kelly, enabling two abortion-related bills to soon become law.
The Kansas Senate voted 28–10, and the Kansas House of Representatives voted 85–40, to override Ms. Kelly’s veto of a bill that makes it a crime to coerce a pregnant woman into receiving an abortion.
Ms. Kelly said in her veto message that she was concerned about “vague language” in the bill and the proposal’s “potential to intrude upon private, often difficult, conversations between a person and their family, friends, and health care providers.”
The bill, formally known as the substitute bill for House Bill 2436, makes it illegal for an individual to coerce a pregnant woman into getting an abortion when the woman has expressed her desire not to obtain an abortion.
Coercion is defined as threatening to harm, destroy, or confiscate immigration papers, or “abusing or threatening abuse of the legal system.”
Offenders face a felony and prison sentence of up to one year and a fine of up to $5,000, unless the offender is the father of the unborn child and the pregnant female is a minor, in which case a fine of up to $10,000 can be ordered.
In a joint statement, Kansas House Republican leaders said that the governor was incorrect to equate conversations to the “strict requirements of what defines coercion in the bill.”
They added that “coercing a woman to have an abortion when that is not her choice is always wrong.”
Ms. Kelly is a Democrat while the GOP controls both state legislative chambers.
“Pressure often rises to the level of coercion as housing, career and educational opportunities, and other financial support are used as leverage to force women to abort. Abortion coercion tactics may even escalate into harassment and threats of physical harm. Human trafficking and child sexual abuse are also situations that can lead to coerced abortions,” Jeanne Gawden, director of government relations for Kansans for Life, told lawmakers.
She said she supported the bill because it would “give women who are facing coercion to have an abortion the legal backing they need and is an additional tool for prosecutors to seek justice for these women.”
The Kansas Birth Justice Society was among the groups that voiced opposition to the bill.
Its narrow focus on coercion related to abortion “overlooks other equally harmful behaviors that infringe upon individuals’ reproductive autonomy,” Sapphire Garcia-Lies, executive director of the society, told lawmakers.
Lawmakers also overrode several other veteos, including the veto of a bill that introduces a requirement for medical providers to ask women who are obtaining abortions the reason or reasons for receiving an abortion.
Reasons a woman can choose include having a baby would interfere with the woman’s education, employment, or career and the woman already having “enough, or too many, children.”
Women can decline to list a reason.
Officials will be mandated to report the number of answers for each choice twice a year.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortions, 16 other states already require health care providers to give information about the reason women seek abortions.
Ms. Kelly said in her veto message that there were no valid reasons “to force a woman to disclose to the legislature if they have been a victim of abuse, rape, or incest prior to obtaining an abortion or ”to force a woman to disclose to the legislature why she is seeking an abortion.”
State Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Republican who helped override the veto, disagreed.
State Sen. Pat Pettey, among the opponents of the bill, said that it ran counter to the idea of not making it more difficult for women who were considering receiving an abortion.
Brittany Jones, director of policy and engagement for Kansas Family Voice, was among those speaking in support of the bill in a Senate committee hearing, saying that adding questions to pose to pregnant women receiving abortions “can help this body and others know how to meet women where they are in life.”
Dr. Selina Sandoval, among the opponents, said that the bill would add “arbitrary” reasons for abortions that were “medically unnecessary” and “intentionally exposes patients’ personal lives to the will of politicians who have never met them.”
“This bill,” she added, “is motivated by anti-abortion stigma and a desire to harass, intimidate, and shame health care providers and patients in Kansas.”
Currently in Kansas, women are allowed to receive abortions for up to 22 weeks after a pregnant woman’s last period. Women can also receive abortions later in pregnancy under a few exceptions, including if an abortion is deemed necessary to save the woman’s life. Abortions in Kansas have increased in recent years.
