Bill requiring abortion providers to ask patients their reason heads to KS Gov. Kelly

Under legislation headed to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk, women seeking abortions in Kansas will be asked to explain why.

The Kansas Senate voted 27 to 13 Tuesday to approve a bill that requires abortion providers to ask patients to pick from a pre-prepared multiple choice list the most important reason they sought their abortion.

The information would then be included in reports prepared by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on abortions in Kansas.

The proposal is the first anti-abortion bill to reach Kelly’s desk this year, nearly two years after Kansans overwhelmingly voted to retain the right to an abortion in the state constitution.

In the wake of that vote anti-abortion lawmakers and advocates have pursued legislation around the edges of the abortion issue, imposing new rules for providers rather than attempting to directly restrict the procedure’s availability.

A bill lawmakers passed over Kelly’s veto last year requiring doctors to tell women medication abortion may be reversible is blocked in court alongside several other requirements for providers imposed in recent decades.

Lawmakers are also poised to vote this week on legislation requiring child support for unborn children.

Advocates of the reporting bill have argued the measure is essential to helping lawmakers better understand why women seek abortions so they can address root causes.

“Any of this data would be helpful to know why women in general would make these decisions,” Sen. Beverly Gossage, a Eudora Republican, said.

Currently, KDHE releases a report annually that includes information on the number of abortions in the state, the age of patients, the method of abortion and the state patients came from. Under the bill, KDHE would be required to release the report twice a year and include the reasons.

Democrats and abortion rights advocates argue the bill asks women invasive questions that are difficult to answer because reasons for abortion are complex.

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said the proposal was intended to harass patients and providers. Lawmakers, she said, already have information about domestic violence, availability of healthcare and unplanned pregnancies.

“It is a farce that we are saying this is what we are passing so we can address good policy because we have the data, we have the information and we choose not to use it,” she said, accusing opponents of an ultimate goal of banning abortion.

Tuesday’s vote comes days after Sen. Mark Steffen, a Hutchinson Republican, attempted to force a vote on a total abortion ban.

Senators overwhelmingly rejected the procedural move from Steffen after Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, advocated against it.

In a social media post Kansans for Life referenced the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling protecting access to abortion and said passage of the total ban would embolden the court to remove all Kansas’ limits on abortion including the state’s 22-week ban and parental consent requirements.

But some lawmakers acknowledged a long-term goal to ban abortion and overturn the 2019 ruling.

“Sometimes allies in the war disagree on battle tactics,” said Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican. “On multiple occasions over the past year or so I’ve explained to my allies, who are the proponents of Senate Bill 286, why hearing this bill would be detrimental to our mutual goal of overturning the Hodes decision and protecting life in Kansas.”