Topeka ? With abortion rights supporter Kathleen Sebelius in the governor’s office, abortion foes have revised their legislative agenda.

Their top priority this year is a bill to establish minimum health and safety standards for clinics, and they hope Sebelius might sign it.

Abortion opponents describe their clinic regulation proposal as a public health measure, but they’ll have to overcome skepticism about their motives from the abortion rights activists who are likely to be influential with the new Democratic governor.

“Where’s the line between protecting safety and harassment?” said Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, an abortion rights supporter. “I’m not sure where that line is.”

Permissive law

Anti-abortion activists generally view the state’s abortion law as permissive, even given U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit how states can restrict the procedure.

The Kansas law guarantees a woman’s right to the procedure until the fetus can survive outside the womb. A woman must receive a booklet with information about fetal development and the risk of abortion procedures, however, and must wait eight hours before undergoing an abortion.

The law says a minor who seeks an abortion must inform a parent or guardian first, but it allows courts to waive the requirement, and abortion foes say other loopholes greatly weaken the provisions.

Kansas law also bans late-term abortions except when a woman’s life is in danger or she would suffer irreparable harm to health by carrying a pregnancy to term.

However, a conflicting provision on a specific procedure, identified as “partial-birth” abortion, permits that single method to preserve a woman’s mental health. Abortion rights advocates say the mental health exception must apply to all late-term procedures to be constitutional; abortion foes disagree.

When he took office, Gov. Bill Graves tried to avoid being identified with either side. But during his eight years, abortion opponents came to view him as hostile to their cause.

Last year, abortion opponents pursued changes in the parental notification law, a clinic regulation measure and even a bill to create a license plate, the proceeds of which would have financed adoption efforts.

Anti-abortion activists had little doubt about where Sebelius stood when she ran for governor last year.

As a House member, she was architect in 1992 of the language guaranteeing a woman’s right to abortion through most of a pregnancy and opposed what restrictions the law contains. In 1990, she voted in favor of a proposal to permit taxpayer-financed abortions.

Seeking ‘common ground’

Yet Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, still hopes it can persuade her to sign a clinic regulation bill.

“This is an excellent bill to reach common ground,” said Kathy Ostrowski, the group’s legislative director. “It’s an evolution: How do you assist citizens faced with crisis pregnancies?”

Last year, the House approved a clinic regulation bill, but it died without a vote in the Senate.

That measure would have required each abortion provider to retain a licensed physician as a medical director, make sure a nurse was present when a patient was examined and have a nurse or physician assistant monitor patients until they are discharged.

Abortion opponents argue that without such a bill, Kansans have to file civil lawsuits against doctors — after an injury or death has occurred — to set standards for clinics.

Abortion rights supporters are suspicious of clinic regulation proposals because they focus on abortion providers.

Sebelius tried to avoid the issue of abortion during her campaign as she sought support from conservatives. She promised not to seek any legislation.

But she may have to deal with the issue anyway, if abortion foes are successful on a clinic regulation bill.