Newly-elected Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has made protecting unborn babies from abortion a priority in his new position.
Just two days after taking office, Kobach said he is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn its 2019 pro-abortion ruling in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Dobbs v. Jackson, according to the Associated Press.
“One of the things that affects any court reconsidering any precedence is intervening events,” Kobach said Wednesday. “There have been intervening events.”
Aborting unborn babies is still legal in Kansas due, in part, to the state Supreme Court ruling, which found a “fundamental right” to abortion in the Kansas Constitution. Additionally, a few weeks after the Dobbs decision in June, Kansas voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have overturned the ruling and allowed lawmakers to pass legal protections for babies before birth. Pro-lifers blame a massive misinformation campaign, backed by wealthy out-of-state donors including Michael Bloomberg and Steven Spielberg.
Later this month, the Kansas Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the abortion issue again, including the constitutionality of a law that bans brutal dismemberment abortions on nearly fully formed unborn babies.
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Here’s more from the report:
The [2019] decision came in the first stage of a lawsuit challenging a 2015 state law banning the [dismemberment] abortion procedure, and the court is now considering the question of whether that not-yet-enforced law violates the state constitution. It also is considering the validity of extra health and safety regulations for abortion providers. …
The Kansas court is set to consider that issue and others in two abortion cases on Jan. 30, though Kobach said he is likely to ask for a few weeks’ delay because he took office only Monday.
Kobach said the court should reconsider its ruling after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that there is no right to abortion in America. He also pointed to a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision that came to a similar conclusion, according to the report.
The future for unborn babies remains uncertain in Kansas. Although voters rejected the pro-life amendment last year, they also voted to elect Kobach and Republican super-majorities to the state House and Senate in November. At the same time, however, they also voted to re-elect Gov. Laura Kelly, a pro-abortion Democrat, and state Supreme Court justices who deny unborn babies’ right to life.
The 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt threatens all existing limits on abortion in the state. Without the amendment, Kansas could become the “wild west of the abortion industry,” said Brittany Jones, Esq., director of advocacy for the Family Police Alliance of Kansas, previously. This could mean forcing taxpayers to fund elective abortions and allowing unrestricted abortions up to birth, as well as ending informed consent requirements and parental consent for minors.
Kansas is one of several states where courts have found a so-called “right to abortion” in their state constitutions. The rulings have been used to force taxpayers to fund abortions and restrict the state legislature from passing even minor, common sense abortion restrictions. To overturn or prevent these pro-abortion rulings, voters in West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana have enacted pro-life amendments to their state constitutions.
Most mid-western states now protect unborn babies from abortion post-Roe v. Wade. Currently, 14 states are enforcing pro-life laws that ban or strictly limit abortions, and others are fighting in court to do the same. Researchers estimate these laws have saved about 10,000 unborn babies’ lives since June.
Pro-life advocates expect more states will pass pro-life legislation this year.