Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill restricting late-term abortions based on the presumption that a fetus feels pain after the 21st week.
Brownback planned a signing ceremony Tuesday on two sweeping bills restricting abortion.
He has already signed House Bill 2218, according to the Kansas Legislative Information Systems and Services website. The other bill, House Bill 2035, has yet to be signed, according to the website. That one requires parental consent for minors to have an abortion.
Opponents of abortion have praised the measures.
HB 2218 was landmark legislation that is already law in Nebraska, according to Kansans for Life.
And HB 2035 strengthens parental involvement for pregnant minors, improves judicial bypass protocol and “acknowledges that abortion will terminate the life of a separate, whole, unique living human being,” the group said.
Abortion rights supporters have said the measures will jeopardize the health of women.
“While rare, an abortion that takes place after 22 weeks into a pregnancy is most often necessary because of a severe fetal indication or serious medical condition that endangers the life or health of the mother,” said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
HB 2035 would force victims of incest or domestic violence “to navigate intricate and likely biased judicial proceedings in order to circumvent the double parental consent provision included in the bill,” said Julie Burkhart, founder and executive director of Trust Women.
Comments
DillonBarnes 2 years, 1 month ago
Hi everyone, this thread is about to explode. Go get a soda and enjoy the show!
OklahomaJayhawk 2 years, 1 month ago
You are right Dillon....lol. I have my popcorn ready! Let's enjoy the show! :)
youngjayhawk 2 years, 1 month ago
Seriously??? Kansas, as we know it, will not survive 4 years of this dude.
What a sad day for the women in Kansas!
deec 2 years, 1 month ago
Both. When do conservative men take responsibility for the little man in their pants? Never. See two can play your silly game. :)
Kontum1972 2 years, 1 month ago
LoL...most think with the critter.....
yourworstnightmare 2 years, 1 month ago
How does this bill create jobs or stimulate the economy.
Just more big-government intrusion into the personal lives of Kansas citizens.
TJ_in_Lawrence 2 years, 1 month ago
Finally someone speaks for the child. Thank you legislature and Governor for adding some sanity and common sense to an industry that murders unborn human beings. Proud to be a Kansan today.
jjt 2 years, 1 month ago
Still waiting for one of the folk who feel that it is right to force a woman give birth to a dead fetus or a fetus that is so deformed that it has no way of living. Please justify this view.
chic 2 years, 1 month ago
This is another one of those Rich vs Poor and Male vs Female pieces of legislation. Rich Male (up on high horse) thinks it's up to him to protect Poor Female - and to appear holier than thou while doing it. When Rich Male's females have an unwanted and/or medically dangerous pregnancy - no problem: he sends her off to "somewhere else" to get the abortion. 1. He can afford it and 2. He doesn't want anyone to know, anyhow.
I am NOT in favor of abortion. I AM in favor of NOT telling anyone else (male or female) what to do with his her own body. I AM in favor of preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. I AM in favor of patient and doctor making medical decisions.
Liberty275 2 years, 1 month ago
This is a goofy law. We do have anesthesia. For franks sake, we can knock out a horse with one shot.
Disclosure, as a libertarian, I think women have the right to kill the children in their womb until the moment before the children are born. If the child in the womb can feel pain, it should be anesthetized before killing it. We are not monsters.
fred_mertz 2 years, 1 month ago
I too view myself as a libertarian and I disagree with you. I believe the woman has the right to kill the child in the womb, but only up to the point that is, based upon scientific fact, viable. For me, at that point the child begins to have rights and as a libertarian, I believe you are free to exercise your rights unfettered by government interference as long as your rights do not infringe upon another's.
pace 2 years, 1 month ago
Goofy laws are expensive. Bad and goofy law at tax payer's expense to put obstacle between a woman and her civil rights. Next they will be using our tax money to impede legitimate voters. Oh too late. kansas is losing law.
pace 2 years, 1 month ago
Tax money should be to protect each Kansan's legal rights not to impede them.
ivalueamerica 2 years, 1 month ago
How much of our tax dollars will now go to support this law that will not pass Constitutional muster? Can we really afford to spend the money, time and resources on a doomed piece of legislation when we are in a fiscal and employment crisis?
tennesseerader 2 years, 1 month ago
Abortion is normally used as a form of birth control; just check out the statistics. This legislation is common sense and does not prevent abortion in cases that it is required for the life of the mother.
Abortion is equal to murder. We have more consideration for animals than we do for humans. Hunting seasons are based on the protection of unborn or young animals.
My experience is that most liberals have participated in an abortion and have a guilt complex because of it. They thus defend their heinous acts against humanity.
Murder of the unborn is the most evil act that man can commit against God or humanity. If someone hasn't had an abortion by the 21st week, they shouldn't be allowed to have one.
Liberty275 2 years, 1 month ago
"Abortion is normally used as a form of birth control"
Probably. It is 100% effective.
"Abortion is equal to murder"
So is execution by the state and self-defense. They end result is a dead human. Unless you are against the last two it is hypocritical to be against the first. Don't fret though, if you are for the last and not the first, you are just as two-faced. Lefties suffer that hypocrisy very often.
It's best to just deny the sanctity of human life and have a small streak of honesty informed by our laws.
"They thus defend their heinous acts"
Liberals are heinous, but not for the shallow reasons you believe. Liberals are heinous because they are philosophical herd animals that will sell out individual liberty for common protection.
"Murder of the unborn is the most evil act that man can commit against God"
There is no god. Get over it.
"or humanity"
Do you really think humanity cares about humans? We kill each other by the millions, injure each other by the billions and won't think twice about violating the basic human rights of others. Humanity cares more about their pets than other humans.
If you were thinking, you would argue the constitutional rights of the child being murdered instead of relying on irrelevancies, emotions and god mumbo jumbo. At least then you could stand on the 14th amendment and try to prove a "person" exists inside the mother's womb and it cannot be legally deprived of life without due process.
barlowtl 2 years, 1 month ago
I cannot but wonder just what experience you have had. You are right we often treat animals better, a farmer will sacrifice a calf or colt to save the cow or mare, it is a matter of economics, Guess we know where some put the value of the female human. In my lifetime I have known many liberals and many conservatives and I have found that neither should be generalized or demonized according to their political beliefs. I would never call most liberals guilt ridden abortion participants any more than I would call all conservatives bearers of false witness. There is a reason why we are cautioned not to judge others. It is because we are so inept at it. You have chosen certain interpretations of the bible to govern your life. It is a large book, with many passages, we should not berate those who read from a different page. What these laws do is insert a politician or judge between me & my dr. in a hospital or examining room while we are making life altering decisions.
cait48 2 years, 1 month ago
"If someone hasn't had an abortion by the 21st week, they shouldn't be allowed to have one." Abortion past the 21st week is outlawed in almost all states in this country (with provisions for exceptions) and makes up less than 3% of all abortions in the US. It correlates statistically with the percentage chance of a pregnancy that either directly threatens the life of the mother or involves a nonviable fetus. I suggest you look up the numbers. I researched it and you can too. However, I suspect you don't want to do anything to upset your world view so i highly doubt you will take the time.
ivalueamerica 2 years, 1 month ago
no matter if it a woman raped by her father likely to born dead and the mothers life is in danger...no matter what..it is bread, damnit, breed woman.
If men could get pregnant quite so simply, abortion would be a sacrement.
Oh wait, it used to be.
It is even in the Bible, priests were instructed to perform abortions on adulterous women.
Somehow, that keeps being written out by the Christians..but it is still there.
TJ_in_Lawrence 2 years, 1 month ago
I'd like the chapter and verse of that please
ivalueamerica 2 years, 1 month ago
Numbers 5, 11-31
none2 2 years, 1 month ago
So in other words you are ok with abortion as long as we make sure there are plenty of bloody pagan animal sacrifices to balance the equation. Sounds like you are the one with blood lust.
kujayhawk7476 2 years, 1 month ago
Brownback doesn't care about women or the unborn, he's a right-wing wacko! All he cares about is legislating morality and telling women how they must behave and what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Wake up you religious nuts, abortion is a moral issue between a woman and her God, not a political issue. Just like most issues, those too far to the right and those too far to the left want to tell all of us how to live. Can we abolish the office of governor and the Kansas legislature?
cait48 2 years, 1 month ago
This is a very very sad day in this state for both women and the nonviable unborn they may carry. I sincerely hope that Sam Brownback ends up having to answer to the "God" he says he believes in someday for the suffering he has created., because the truth is he doesn't really believe in "sparing babies pain". He believes in controlling his women and all of the women of this state.
none2 2 years, 1 month ago
Well with the millions and millions of late-term abortions no longer taking place, Brownback will have plenty of non-viable babies to repopulate rural Kansas with.
cait48 2 years, 1 month ago
none2, I recognize the sarcasm. It just hurts too damn much to laugh :(
sad_lawrencian 2 years, 1 month ago
I miss Kathleen Sebelius. This dude couldn't make it in the Republican presidential primaries (I remember he raised his hand in a 2008 CNN presidential debate when the moderator asked, "Who here doesn't believe in evolution?") I thought back then that we're doomed, and I still think we're doomed. Makes my home state of Connecticut seem a lot cozier right now...
TJ_in_Lawrence 2 years, 1 month ago
I'm glad you are from Connecticut that explains a lot. Just FYI there are several million of us Kansans who like Sam Brownback. We also believe that we had the right to exist even before we exited our mothers bodies. Thankfully she believed in the right to life. My mother gave birth to 7 children, most of us without a father in the picture. All 7 of us are hardworking contributing members of our communities. Of course by today's standards we should have all been aborted so that she could have been free to pursue her own dreams and goals. I am certain none of us were convenient or affordable. Funny how people who were not denied life can be so hypocritical about denying that right to unborn members of our community.
none2 2 years, 1 month ago
There isn't even three million people living in Kansas. So where you get the idea that "several" million Kansans like Sam Brownback, is an exaggeration.
Secondly, have you ever thought about why someone would have an abortion in the third trimester? Do you think it is some fat lady who didn't even know she was pregnant and just had some voluntary abortion near the end because that is the first time she knew she was pregnant? Do think it was some couple who wanted a boy and found out the baby was a girl? Do you think it was some mother who got tired of her friends at the bar nagging her to stop drinking if she was "showing" in a big way? Do you think it was some stripper who could no longer dance on a pole, and thus got an abortion to keep her job? Do you think it was some mommy dearest who despised her figure being messed up so got an abortion? Do you think it was some high school girl who was pissed that she couldn't wear a pretty, petite prom dress and become home coming queen, so she got a last minute abortion?
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps a woman caring the baby for so long meant most likely that she DID really want the baby, but that something went horribly wrong?
The fact that you would assume that a mother-to-be would have a late term abortion just on a whim, says more about what you think about mothers and motherhood than what you think about abortion.
black7maker 2 years, 1 month ago
I love your post it is right on. I agree totally.
mloburgio 2 years, 1 month ago
The GOP’s War On Women And Children From breast pumps to Big Bird, and from food stamps to family planning, the GOP is waging a war on America’s women and children. Full-fledged Republican battles against women now include anti-abortion bills, anti-contraception efforts, bills that literally would allow women to die in hospitals across America to protect “conscience rights” of doctors, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, and GOP-sponsored bills that reduce, hamper, or even attempt to eliminate women’s constitutional rights to abortion and reproductive health services.
Yes, despite the fact that 64% of Americans say unemployment and the economy in general are “the most important problems facing this country today,” the GOP has chosen to focus on effectively eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/the-gops-war-on-women-and-children/politics/2011/02/17/17488
chic 2 years, 1 month ago
Women are still in the majority in the population. When will we get smarter and get more women in political office? When will we go the step forward to regain control of our own bodies?
fred_mertz 2 years, 1 month ago
Hmmmm........women in the majority and yet politician's that do not represent you are elected? Says one of two things - either women are not very savvy voters or perhaps the majority of women voting do not agree with you.
I enjoy listening to all the whining by the Brownback haters. Maybe you should have put up a viable contender instead of Holland. Brownback could have been defeated if the D's put up a good candidate and if their base was more involved.
jafs 2 years, 1 month ago
Not as long as Brownback lies, and is voted for on the basis of those lies - eg. "protecting" education and social service funding, lowering taxes, and balancing the budget.
yourworstnightmare 2 years, 1 month ago
There are already severe restrictions on late term abortions, and rightly so. They are already illegal except in the case of maternal health.
These new measures are geared at eliminating all forms of abortion, not just late term, by acting as wedges into the issue. Furthermore, they are designed to harass the patient and doctor who are involved with the idea that they will be intimidated and cowed.
Current restrictions on late term abortions are a moderate and reasoned. These measures are extreme and represent attempts by the most extreme anti-abortion zealots to do away with all abortions.
Scott Roeder, you have friends in high places in the Kansas government.
sad_lawrencian 2 years, 1 month ago
Like
Paul R. Getto 2 years, 1 month ago
chic: Good points. I've heard some say (given that men are wimps), "If men had the babies, everyone would be an only child." Medical practice should be restricted to those with licenses, not those elected to run the world according to their vision. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless all the zygotes (and while she's at it, all the legislators too.) http://www.kansascity.com/2011/01/03/2557081/lee-judge-cartoon-archive.html
kjh 2 years, 1 month ago
And so goes the debate. I am a woman. It is my body when it is occupied by me, alone. When a child exists in it, it is no longer just "my body". There is another living human being in there. I am forever baffled by those who gloss over that part of the equation. Most often the absence of a negative action against that child is all that is necessary after conception to allow it to be born and survive. If you are put in a position where you are denied access to food, or water, or air to breathe, you become "non-viable" too. I will never understand how we can "split hairs" over human life and decide when it is worthy and when it is not. And I write this as someone who was formerly pro-choice. Thank goodness I learned to value all life.
pocket_of_sunshine 2 years, 1 month ago
Do you value the right for a woman to choose what is best for her life? Or do you only value all life that agrees with what you believe?
cait48 2 years, 1 month ago
So I guess you're perfectly ok with bringing this into the world and letting it die on it's own. I see. http://drugster.info/ail/pathography/2120/
jjt 2 years, 1 month ago
Still waiting.....
Olympics 2 years, 1 month ago
Life begins at the erection.
MattyPro12 2 years, 1 month ago
So let me get this straight... Republicans & tea baggers spend a good 3/4 of the year talking about how if elected their top priorities will be to fix the economy, create jobs and end government intrusion.
Yet here we have legislation that doesn't fix the economy, doesn't create any new jobs and grotesquely intrudes on womens rights.
So my questions for the republicans & tea baggers who think they know better then everyone else are...
1.) How does this legislation help fix the economy/create jobs? Please cite your examples from the legislation.
2.) How is it that you complain about there being too much government intrusion in our lives & there should be less intrusion, yet you cheer this legislation that intrudes on a woman's uterus & rights?
3.) Who in the hell do you think you are & what gives you the right to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body. And please be original, none of this "The Bible/God/Jebus says it's wrong" cop out crap that you always throw out, because you have to have something/someone else tell you what to think instead of forming an opinion for yourself.
And for extra credit...
I echo jjt's sediments, and challenge "One of the folk who feel that it is right to force a woman give birth to a dead fetus or a fetus that is so deformed that it has no way of living. Please justify this view. "
Paul R. Getto 2 years, 1 month ago
Mattypro: The answer is simple, the skygod chosen by part of the Republican party is calling the shots and designating which legislation is appropriate. Those of us who belileve in secular, rational governance must wait for the next election to see if this is really what people want. In the meantime, get ready for more pelvic, as opposed to economic, politics.
pace 2 years, 1 month ago
For me to make personal remarks and demonize any person that disagrees with me, does not suffice as argument. Stupid and sly law to create false impediments to others rights under the constitution is not just a waste of money but an attack (taxpaid) against law.
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