A fight over abortion access brewing ahead of Kansas election

Record ID: 1683336

  • Title: A fight over abortion access brewing ahead of Kansas election
  • Date: 1st August 2022
  • Summary: KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 1, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KANSAS EARLY VOTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARSON UPDIKE, KANSAS VOTER, SAYING: “I mean, it’s definitely a big decision. Hoping that it doesn’t pass and we’ll be able to keep abortion legal here in Kansas because it’s needed.” VARIOUS OF KANSAS EARLY VOTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAROLYN BEA
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2022 21:28
  • Keywords: ABORT ABORTION AMERICA BABY FETUS KANSAN KANSANS KANSAS KC LAWRENCE OVERLAND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ROE TOPEKA VOTE VOTER VOTING WICHITA
  • Location: KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, UNITED STATES; LAWRENCE, KANSAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, UNITED STATES; LAWRENCE, KANSAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics,United States,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA001583201082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A fight over abortion access in middle America is roiling the hills and plains of Kansas, where Tuesday (August 2) voters will decide whether the state's constitution should go on protecting the right to terminate a pregnancy.
    The Sunflower State is the first in the U.S. to vote on reproductive rights following Roe v. Wade's reversal in the U.S. Supreme Court.
    “I mean, it’s definitely a big decision," said Carson Updike, an early voter in Kansas City, Kansas. "Hoping that it doesn’t pass and we’ll be able to keep abortion legal here in Kansas because it’s needed.”
    Other early voters at the Wyandotte County Election Office in Kansas City, Kansas, Monday (August 1) disagree with Updike.
    "Abortion is sin, it is taking a life," said Carolyn Beaton. "If people want to be promiscuous and end up getting pregnant, that’s a result of the sin they’ve already done. They don’t need to commit a second sin.”
    “We have 20 years of polling that shows that Kansas is fundamentally a pro-choice state," said Patrick Miller, associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas. "Like most Americans, most Kansans support a basic right to abortion access, but with certain limitations that tend to be popular nationwide as well."
    Despite the decades of polling, Miller says he doesn't believe anyone in Kansas can truly claim to have a solid grasp of what the abortion referendum's outcome will be.
    "Our legislature very purposely did not put this on the November ballot," said Miller. "That was never a serious consideration for our legislature. I think precisely because they knew that placing it on the November ballot, when we would have higher turnout, would make it harder for the amendment to pass. This is on an August ballot where turnout is stacked much more in favor of Republicans, where a big chunk of our electorate is used to not voting. It all absolutely has to be taken as part of the story here.”
    (Production: Eric Cox)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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