Republican Gov. Sam Brownback speaks Monday at a Statehouse rally to mark the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. The Kansas Supreme Court is now weighing a case that will decide whether the state constitution offers the same right to an abortion as the U.S. Constitution.

Topeka ? Hundreds of abortion opponents rallied on the steps of the Kansas Statehouse Monday to mark the 45th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and to brace themselves for a possible battle to put anti-abortion language into the state Constitution.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, reminded the crowd that the Kansas Supreme Court is currently weighing a case that could decide whether the Kansas Constitution offers the same guarantee of a right to abortion that is currently found in the U.S. Constitution.

She said KFL strongly suspects that the state court will uphold such a right, “to include a right to abortion broader than Roe vs. Wade, and one that wouldn’t even let our Legislature ban live dismemberment or partial birth abortion.”

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback speaks Monday at a Statehouse rally to mark the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. The Kansas Supreme Court is now weighing a case that will decide whether the state constitution offers the same right to an abortion as the U.S. Constitution.

“So it really could be just devastating to us, and if it is, we’re going to have to amend the Constitution,” Culp said.

The court heard oral arguments in the case 10 months ago, on March 16, 2017, and activists on both sides of the abortion debate have been awaiting a decision ever since.

The case challenges a 2015 law that the Legislature enacted that banned a commonly used procedure known as “dilation and evacuation,” or D&E, but which abortion opponents have called “dismemberment” abortion.

The legal theory behind the case, though, has abortion opponents worried because it asks the Kansas Supreme Court to find that the state constitution provides the same guarantee of a right to privacy as the U.S. Constitution, a right that was at the core of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Abortion rights supporters now believe the U.S. Supreme Court is much more conservative than it was in 1973. Many of them are worried that it is now poised to overturn Roe, and so they have launched legal campaigns in state courts in hopes of enshrining a right to abortion in state constitutions.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who has signed numerous bills into law limiting access to abortion procedures, also spoke at Monday’s rally, urging those in attendance to brace themselves for a battle to amend the state constitution.

“We’ve got a pro-life House, a pro-life Senate, and many of them are here,” he told the crowd, standing in front of dozens of conservative lawmakers who support restricting abortion. “And if it has to be a constitutional amendment, they’re the ones that’ll get it done.”

A constitutional amendment requires passage by two-thirds majorities in both the House and the Senate, followed by a majority of voters in a general election.

Monday’s rally at the Statehouse took place on the heels of a series of Women’s Marches around the country, including events in Lawrence and Topeka, marches that generally reflected the other end of the political spectrum, with much of their focus on progressive issues and equal rights for women and minorities.