Kansas House Advances Unborn Victims Bill, Abortion Regulations
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
March 28, 2004
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — The Kansas House passed a better version of the unborn victims bill Friday morning, with a decisive 105-19 vote. A bill regulating abortion facilities also passed, 77-47. The latter is identical to legislation vetoed by Governor Kathleen Sebelius last year.
Last week, Kansans for Life had to urge legislators to kill the unborn victims bill they had supported, after it was discovered the bill had been changed to a single-victims bill not acknowledging unborn children as victims when they are killed or injured during an attack against their mother.
Pro-life groups hope the governor will sign both bills, but Sebelius has promised to veto the abortion facility legislation again if it reaches her desk.
"Since these two bills are about criminal justice and state oversight of vulnerable patients, perhaps Sebelius would ignore her abortion industry supporters and sign off on good legislation," said Kansans for Life Legislative Director Kathy Ostrowski.
During debate over the facility regulations bill in the House, bill sponsor Rep. Peggy Long-Mast (R-Madison) read from an affidavit from law enforcement officers, who witnessed the despicable state of an abortion facility.
The officers had been called to an abortion business for another reason and were "shocked at an environment we would not stomach our sisters or wives to endure. ..The clinic was dirty, with a stench; roaches were crawling across countertops and we were reluctant to even sit down; the ‘procedure’ room was filthy with dried blood on the floor."
The officers were frustrated and disturbed that no charges could be filed – state agencies told the District Attorney there were no laws governing the conditions of abortion businesses – despite the fact that Governor Sebelius’ veto message of the regulation bill last year said such facilities "are already subject to those high standards."
The facility regulation bill was amended to a health bill, SB 106, so it will be assigned to a conference committee "with a real chance to be voted out of the Senate and onto the Governor’s desk," according to Ostrowski.
"Things haven’t changed in ten years since Missouri found a Springfield abortion clinic with similar appalling conditions," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. "But Missouri was able to get inside because it had a clinic licensing law. Kansas has no inspections and no clinic law because our Governor vetoed this bill last year, contending that our citizens ‘enjoy the highest medical standards.’"
Related Sites:
Kansans for Life – https://www.kfl.org
Kansas legislature – https://www.kslegislature.org
Kansas Office of the Governor – https://www.ksgovernor.org
