Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks about the need to expand Medicaid in the state during a March 6 rally in Topeka. Kelly vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors on Friday.
Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP
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Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks about the need to expand Medicaid in the state during a March 6 rally in Topeka. Kelly vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors on Friday.
Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas governor on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure requiring more reporting from abortion providers and what she called of a “vague” bill making it a crime to force someone to have an abortion. abortion.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s actions have sparked a series of confrontations with the Republican-majority Legislature over the issues. The measures appear to have the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override the vetoes, but Republican Party leaders’ success depends on how many lawmakers are absent on a given day, particularly in the House.
The two-term, term-limited governor is a strong supporter of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Republicans control the Legislature and have joined other Republican lawmakers in the United States to roll back transgender rights.
But Kansas is an outlier on abortion among states with Republican legislatures, because the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state constitution protects the right to abortion, and a vote on statewide in August 2022 decisively confirmed this position.
“Voters don’t want politicians to come between doctors and their patients by interfering in private medical decisions,” Kelly wrote in his veto message on the abortion bill.
Kelly allowed a GOP proposal on a social issue highlighted by Republicans across the United States to become law without his signature. Starting July 1, pornographic websites must verify that Kansas visitors are adults. Kansas will follow Texas and a handful of other states despite some concerns about privacy and the scope of law enforcement.
In rejecting an attempt to have Kansas join at least 24 other states in banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors, Kelly argued that a ban “tramples on parental rights” and targets “a small group.”
“If Parliament paid as much attention to the remaining 99.8% of students, we would have the best schools in the world,” she wrote.
The Kansas bill against gender-affirming care would ban surgery, hormone treatments and puberty blockers, limiting care for minors to therapy.
“I hope this is the end, at least this year, and they don’t decide to waste anyone’s time anymore,” said Jenna Bellemere, a transgender student at the University of Kansas, after having learned of the existence of the veto.
The bill would also require the state to revoke the licenses of any doctors violating the ban and prohibit recipients of public funds to treat children or state employees who work with children from advocating affirming care gender for them. It would prohibit the use of state dollars and assets for such care, restricting the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
Supporters of the bill argue that the ban will protect children from experimental, potentially dangerous and potentially permanent treatments. They cited the recent decision by the National Health Service in England to no longer systematically cover these treatments. Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said of Kelly: “The radical left controls his veto. »
“Laura Kelly will most likely find herself on the wrong side of history with her reckless veto of this common-sense protection for Kansas minors,” said Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.
But U.S. state bans run counter to recommendations from leading U.S. health care groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Additionally, many medical professionals say providing such care makes transgender children less prone to depression or suicidal thoughts.
Last year, Republican lawmakers overrode Kelly’s vetoes to ban transgender girls and women on K-12 and college girls’ sports teams and end state legal recognition of gender identity of transgender people. As a result of this latest law, Kansas no longer allows transgender people to change the gender designation on their driver’s license or birth certificate.
Republican lawmakers have also continued to push for new abortion laws, despite the August 2022 vote, arguing that voters still support “reasonable” regulations and support for pregnant women and new mothers.
“Once again, Governor “Coercion Kelly” has shown how radical she is on abortion, lacking basic compassion for women who are pushed or even trafficked into abortion,” said Danielle Underwood, spokesperson for Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion organization. -abortion group, said in a statement.
The anti-coercion bill would punish anyone found guilty of making a physical or financial threat against a woman or girl to induce her to have an abortion with up to a year in prison or a fine up to $10,000. In his veto message, Kelly noted that threatening someone else was already a crime.
Critics said it was written broadly enough that it could apply to a spouse who threatens divorce or a live-in boyfriend who threatens to leave unless his partner gets an abortion.
The reporting bill would require providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and report the information to the state health department. Kelly and other critics argue it’s invasive and unnecessary, but supporters argue the state needs better data on why women and girls have abortions to help set policy.
“These stigmatizing bills were not designed to improve the health and well-being of Kansans,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates three clinics providing abortions in Kansas. “They were just meant to shame reproductive care.”
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