In two 5-1 opinions, the court built on a 2019 decision in which it said the state’s Constitution protects abortion rights and that lawmakers seeking to restrict abortion must meet a high “strict scrutiny” test. The decisions cement Kansas' role as a key abortion access point for patients across the broader region.
The Kansas Supreme Court struck down two laws restricting abortion on Friday, affirming its prior interpretation that ending a pregnancy remains a constitutionally protected right in Kansas.
In two 5-1 opinions, the court built on a 2019 decision in which it said the state’s Constitution protects abortion rights and lawmakers seeking to restrict abortion must meet a high “strict scrutiny” test. When Republican lawmakers asked voters, in 2022, to amend the constitution to stipulate that it does not protect abortion rights, Kansans overwhelmingly declined to do so.
“We stand by our conclusion that section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person’s right to terminate a pregnancy,” wrote Justice Eric Rosen in one of the majority opinions.
A decision against abortion providers would have been monumental, not only for Kansans but for the thousands of women across the region who now travel to Kansas each year to get abortions that have been banned in their home states. A large majority of patients at Kansas abortion clinics now come from Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and farther afield.
The court’s majority upheld lower court rulings that two laws restricting abortion — passed several years ago by Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature — were unconstitutional. One law, passed in 2015, banned an abortion method frequently used in second-trimester abortions called ‘dilation and evacuation.’ The second law, passed in 2011, imposed licensure restrictions on doctors who provide abortions that exceeded those imposed on other medical providers.
Neither law had been in effect because of permanent injunctions by lower courts.
In his decision striking down the dilation and evacuation ban, Rosen wrote that the State of Kansas does have a compelling interest in “promoting respect for the value and dignity of human life, born or unborn” but said that the law is not narrowly tailored to that interest.
The clinic restrictions “do not survive strict scrutiny and are constitutionally infirm,” Justice Standridge concluded in the second majority opinion.
The decisions were both 5-1, with Justice Caleb Stegall — the only justice to dissent from the 2019 decision — dissenting and Justice Keynen Wall not participating in the decision.
Stegall wrote that he dissented from the Friday opinions for the same reasons he dissented in 2019.
“The majority’s imagined section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights bears no resemblance at all — in either law or history — to the actual text and original public meaning of section 1.”
Stegall also criticized the majority’s use of the term “pregnant person” instead of “women.”
“I cannot help but notice that pregnant women have been quietly — decisively — evicted from this court’s abortion jurisprudence,” he wrote.
The Center for Reproductive Rights represented the Kansas doctors who challenged the laws. Nancy Northup, the organization’s president and CEO, commended the court’s opinions.
“This is an immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region, where millions have been cut off from abortion access,” Northup said in a news release. “We will continue our fight to ensure Kansans can access the essential healthcare they need in their home state.”
Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion organization, rebuked the decisions.
“Adding insult to injury, extremely liberal judges of the Kansas Supreme Court have now overturned basic health and safety standards for abortion facilities,” KFL spokesperson Danielle Underwood said in a press release.
“It hurts to say, ‘we told you so,’ to the many Kansans who were misled by the abortion industry’s assurances that it would still be ‘heavily regulated’ in our state if voters rejected the 2022 amendment,” Underwood added.
Several new abortion laws took effect in Kansas earlier this week, but one of them — a law requiring doctors to ask patients getting abortions their reason for doing so — is being challenged in court. A Johnson County judge said Monday that doctors could add the law to a larger lawsuit they brought against a handful of older state abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. The judge agreed to temporarily block the older laws while the case proceeds.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment told providers it will “not, for now” enforce the abortion reasons law, providers said Monday. The health department has not responded to requests seeking to confirm that.
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A pro-science political action committee whose name is inspired by 𝛑.
314 Action was founded in 2016 as a 501c4 non-profit group. They raise money to promote reality-based candidates who have some sort of science background. They also encourage qualified people with such backgrounds to seek public office in the first place.
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And of course, March 14th is a special day for 314 Action. 🥧
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Hot Vintage TV Men's Bracket - Round 1 - Part 1/2 (Polls 1-99)
Round 1 (All Polls)
Ted Bessell Vs. Dick Van Dyke
Jonathan Frid Vs. William Hartnell
Claude Rains Vs. William Hopper
Eric Idle Vs. Peter Tork
Henry Winkler Vs. Tom Smothers
Martin Kove Vs. Tom Selleck
Jeff Conaway Vs. John de Lancie
Dave Foley Vs. Michael J. Fox
David Hyde Pierce Vs. Tony Shalhoub
Jason Bateman Vs. Rob Lowe
Ted Cassidy Vs. Boris Karloff
Eddie Albert Vs. Russell Johnson
Bobby Sherman Vs. Micky Dolenz
Robin Williams Vs. Fred Grandy
Kevin Smith Vs. Bruce Campbell
Brad Dourif Vs. LeVar Burton
Seth Green Vs. Brandon Quinn
Matthew Perry Vs. Tim Daly
Mike Farrell Vs. Judd Hirsch
Matt Bomer Vs. Timothy Olyphant
Larry Hagman Vs. Kent McCord
Fred Rogers Vs. Bobby Troup
David Cassidy Vs. Luke Halpin
George Takei Vs. Richard Hatch
Ricardo Montalban Vs. John Forsythe
Richard Dean Anderson Vs. Bruce Willis
Anthony Head Vs. Paul McGann
Thorsten Kaye Vs. Michael Horse
Darren E. Burrows Vs. Dana Ashbrook
Adam Brody Vs. Milo Ventimiglia
Adam West Vs. Richard Chamberlain
Randy Boone Vs. Dean Butler
Clint Walker Vs. George Maharis
Erik Estrada Vs. Paul Michael Glaser
Billy Dee Williams Vs. Rock Hudson
Ted Danson Vs. Jameson Parker
Sylvester McCoy Vs. Armin Shimerman
Joe Lando Vs. Spencer Rochfort
Ben Browder Vs. Keith Hamilton Cobb
Richard Ayoade Vs. Kevin McDonald
Patrick McGoohan Vs. Robert Vaughn
Chad Everett Vs. DeForest Kelley
Jon Pertwee Vs. Mark Lenard
Darren McGavin Vs. Peter Falk
Terry Jones Vs. Alan Alda
Michael Tylo Vs. Timothy Dalton
Sean Bean Vs. Valentine Pelka
Ioan Gruffudd Vs. Colin Firth
David Tennant Vs. Robert Carlyle
Jason Priestley Vs. Tom Welling
Martin Milner Vs. James Garner
David Soul Vs. Lee Majors
Derek Jacobi Vs. Andrew Robinson
David Hasselhoff Vs. Stephen Nichols
Jimmy Smits Vs. Hal Linden
Brent Spiner Vs. Ted Raimi
Patrick Troughton Vs. Andreas Katsulas
Miguel Ferrer Vs. Mitch Pileggi
David James Elliot Vs. Andre Braugher
Blair Underwood Vs. Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Don Adams Vs. Cesar Romero
Bob Crane Vs. John Astin
Walter Koenig Vs. Davy Jones
Tom Baker Vs. Jamie Farr
Woody Harrelson Vs. John Schneider
John Goodman Vs. Joseph Marcell
Danny John-Jules Vs. Marc Alaimo
Michael Praed Vs. Kevin Sorbo
Mark McKinney Vs. Colm Meaney
Neil Patrick Harris Vs. David Schwimmer
James Arness Vs. Robert Fuller
Clint Eastwood Vs. Robert Conrad
Jonathan Frakes Vs. Michael Hurst
David Duchovny Vs. Michael T. Weiss
Luke Perry Vs. Jeremy Sisto
Matt LeBlanc Vs. John Stamos
Reece Shearsmith Vs. Alexander Siddig
Eric Close Vs. William Shockley
Daniel Dae Kim Vs. Robert Beltran
Scott Cohen Vs. Scott Patterson
Dick Gautier Vs. Michael Landon
Wayne Rogers Vs. Alejandro Rey
Gerald McRaney Vs. Robert Wagner
Simon Williams Vs. John Cleese
Brian Blessed Vs. James Earl Jones
Noah Wyle Vs. Kyle MacLachlan
James Marsters Vs. Paul Gross
Paolo Montalban Vs. Robert Duncan McNeill
Garrett Wang Vs. Nate Richert
Christian Kane Vs. Michael Vartan
David McCallum Vs. David Selby
Leonard Nimoy Vs. Colin Baker
Randolph Mantooth Vs. Michael Nesmith
Demond Wilson Vs. Tony Danza
Ron Perlman Vs. Mr. T
Ron Glass Vs. Dirk Benedict
John Shea Vs. Michael Ontkean
Jeffrey Combs Vs. Rowan Atkinson
Tim Russ Vs. Bruce Boxleitner
Round 1 Polls 100 - 128
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omg i love aus where characters interact with our world it’s so self indulgent :D you talked about how zuko and toph would be into rock and hip hop, what do you think the other characters would listen to?
It's one of my most self-indulgent ideas. Right up there with my CaptainMe headcanon.
I feel like everyone's taste would be pretty eclectic, tbh. There would be a lot of overlap. Katara would love indie folk, though. I think she'd be a huge Alexz Johnson fan. She'd also love bands like Fleetwood Mac. Alt rock would be right up her alley, too. R&B would have her in a chokehold when she's deep in her feelings. When she breaks up with Aang Emotional Rollercoaster by Viviane Green would be on rotation for 3 days straight, and tell me she wouldn't insist on dancing to Spend My Life With You by Eric Benet and Tamia.
Sokka would love rock and rap, but his secret love would be pop music. Levitating by Dua Lipa is absolutely on his workout playlist. He also likes artists like Beyonce, Usher and Jason Derulo, and Justin Timberlake before his bizarre foray into...what was that album supposed to be? Country? Was it meant to be country?
Speaking of country, Suki is the biggest country fan of the group. Not to say it's her favorite genre, but she likes a lot of female country acts, like Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.
Aang...I don't know... I feel like he'd be into some genre of music, but I honestly can't imagine what that would be. I think he would have really narrow tastes. His music preference would overlap the least with his friends.
Bonus: Iroh would be super into the Motown style music. The Isley Brothers, Al Green, The Temprees, Patti Labell and the Bluebells...He'd own all the vinyl's.
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