To the editor:

There is a new playbook in Kansas to end abortion rights: change the way we select our Supreme Court.

If you have been listening you have heard how voting “yes” on the Aug. 4 amendment will “return the Supreme Court to the people,” “restore democracy,” and the like. This is world-class hypocrisy.

If the amendment succeeds, yes: Supreme Court justices will be elected. But the statewide election will be partisan.

To run as a Republican– and have any chance of winning — the candidate will have to be anti-abortion. Republican leaders will see to that. In a very short time, the Kansas Supreme Court will change — just like the U.S. Supreme Court changed under President Donald Trump. And once the anti-abortion justices have a majority on our Supreme Court, they will overturn the right to abortion in Kansas — just like the Trump appointees overturned Roe v. Wade.

Kansans united to protect their abortion rights in 2022 by defeating the amendment that would have repealed them. Make no mistake: the Aug. 4 amendment is about ending abortion rights, not democracy. If you want to keep your rights, you have to vote in the Aug. 4 primary. I will be voting no on the constitutional amendment.

Bill Sampson,

Lawrence