Kansas Abortion Statistics Reporting Bill Heads to Governor Sebelius

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 4, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Kansas Abortion Statistics Reporting Bill Heads to Governor Sebelius Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 4, 2006

Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — A measure that would provide for more accurate and comprehensive reporting of abortion statistics heads to pro-abortion Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The bill requires abortion practitioners to keep detailed information about any late-term abortions performed and notes on whether the baby was healthy before the abortion.

Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said the governor had no opinion yet on the bill, but pro-life advocates are concerned she will veto it. The governor rejected measures in 2003 and 2005 to provide common-sense regulations on abortion facilities.

The state House approved the bill on a 89-34 vote and the Senate backed it 25-15.

Abortion practitioners already send some abortion statistics to the state for its records, and this bill is partly intended to make sure they are complying with the state’s law-term abortion law.

Kansas law requires that an abortion on a baby older than 22 weeks along can only be done if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life, or "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."

"The public has a fairly significant lack of awareness in that most of those babies are perfectly normal, healthy babies that are aborted late term," Sen. Jim Barnett, a Republican and physician who supported the bill, told the Associated Press.

Abortion advocates oppose the measure saying it’s only meant to make abortions more difficult to get.

Kansans for Life supports the bill and is asking pro-life advocates to contact Governor Sebelius and make their views known. The group says the measure would "enhance late-term abortion statistics in Kansas and require that babies that survive abortion be protected."

The legislation is SB 528.

ACTION: Contact Gov. Sebelius at 877-579-6757 or go to https://www.ksgovernor.org/contact.html for more contact information.

Related web sites:
Kansas state legislature – https://www.kslegislature.org
Kansans for Life – https://www.kfl.org