To the editor:

The governor’s veto of the bill that would put abortion clinics under the scrutiny of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment makes it clear that she is pro-abortion, rather than pro-choice. Nothing in the bill would have restricted any woman’s choice about abortion. Rather, it would have made clinics, and the women who choose to use them, safer.

Currently, clinics are not routinely inspected; they are checked only in response to complaints. The bill she vetoed would have required clinics to obtain an annual license from KDHE, hire surgeons as their medical directors and report patient deaths within one day. It also set standards for equipment, medical screenings, ventilation and lighting. None of these requirements are onerous. Rather, they seek to provide minimum health and safety standards that anyone should expect for procedures as invasive as abortion.

Clearly the governor wants to protect the abortion industry against any attempts to regulate their practices. No one should be surprised by her reactionary stance. After all, George Tiller, head of the state’s most profitable abortion practice, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign.

Parents of teenage daughters need to understand: Because we have a pro-abortion governor, your daughters can get an abortion in this state without your knowledge under conditions designed to minimize the clinic’s costs rather than to protect her health and safety. Remember that next year when we have an opportunity to replace the governor and those representatives who voted to sustain her veto.

Joe Reitz,

Eudora