Kansans Reject Anti-Abortion Ballot Measure — and It's Not Even Close | Reason - Elizabeth Nolan Brown:
August 3, 2022 - "Voters overwhelmingly voted against a measure that would have allowed abortion to be banned in Kansas in the first post-Roe test of abortion's legality put directly to the people. As of Wednesday morning — with 95 percent of precincts reporting — the vote was 58.8 percent against and 41.2 percent for, according to The New York Times.
"The ballot measure would have amended the Kansas constitution to state that it did not protect the right to have an abortion. Such an amendment would open the gates for state lawmakers to ban abortion—an option currently blocked by a 2019 state Supreme Court finding that the Kansas Constitution's guarantee of 'equal and inalienable rights' included a 'natural right of personal autonomy' that protected abortion access. But voters yesterday gave a resounding no to the question 'should the Kansas constitution be amended to remove protections of abortion rights?'
"The vote isn't the result of low turnout — Kansans voted on the abortion measure in numbers normally not seen in non-general elections. Nor is it a result of August elections typically favoring more liberal voters. 'When the Legislature's GOP supermajority placed the amendment on the ballot last year they picked the election most likely to favor the amendment,' notes The Kansas City Star. 'August primaries have disproportionately high Republican turnout because Democratic primaries in Kansas are often uncontested.'
"And it doesn't turn on results from more liberal urban areas or university towns alone. Suburban Johnson county overwhelmingly voted against it. Rural counties such as Franklin and Osage also voted against the amendment 'by significant margins," reports the Star....
"Whether Kansas is a good bellwether for the rest of the country on this issue is debatable. But Kansas is a relatively conservative and Republican state, and residents voting against an anti-abortion initiative at least suggests that conservative enthusiasm for banning abortion might not be as strong as many believe."
"Does this mean Democrats will benefit from calling out GOP extremism on abortion? Some think so.... I'm not as convinced. In my experience, few moderates and Republicans are single-mindedly attached to protecting abortion rights. They may oppose abortion bans, but they won't reject an otherwise simpatico candidate who supports them (or vote for a liberal candidate just because that candidate opposes them).
"Meanwhile, Republican candidates are — probably now more than ever—under pressure from pro-life factions, who still make up much of their base. Which means Republican politicians and lawmakers still have a lot to gain and little to lose from opposing legal abortion. And Republican-controlled legislatures are likely to keep proposing and passing extreme abortion bans, even if these bans aren't universally popular among their constituents or wanted by a majority of their state's residents.
"That's why abortion ballot initiatives like this one in Kansas are a good way to actually leave the question of abortion's legality up to the residents of each state."
Read more: https://reason.com/2022/08/03/kansans-reject-anti-abortion-ballot-measure-and-its-not-even-close/
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