Backers of abortion bill still seek passage

? Abortion opponents in the Kansas Legislature aren’t giving up on forcing a Senate vote on a bill designed to prevent the state from subsidizing abortions indirectly through tax breaks.

Among other things, the measure would prevent individual income tax filers from including abortion expenses when they take a deduction for their medical costs.

The bill has passed the House, and it’s now before the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.

Committee Chairman Pete Brungardt, a Salina Republican who supports abortion rights, said Thursday that he doesn’t intend to consider the measure.

But House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lance Kinzer, an anti-abortion Olathe Republican, said supporters are discussing a possible attempt to pull the bill from the committee. Supporters would need 24 votes in the 40-member Senate to prevail.