Kansas Supreme Court blocks abortion dismembered ban, it’s ‘a woman’s decision to not continue a pregnancy’
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling against a ban on dismemberment abortion on Friday, arguing that a right to abortion exists in their state constitution.
According to National Public Radio (NPR), “The landmark ruling now stands as the law of the land in Kansas with no path for an appeal. Because it turns on the state’s Constitution, abortion would remain legal in Kansas even if the Roe v. Wade case that established a national right to abortion is ever reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The case before the Supreme Court, Hodes & Nauser vs Schmidt, was brought by two late-term abortionists, father-and-daughter team Herbert Hodes and Traci Nauser, who were challenging Kansas’ 2015 ban on dismemberment abortions, an abortion technique that kills a second trimester fetus by dissecting the baby limb-from-limb from within the womb.
Photo/Nodar Kherkheulidze via wikimedia commons
According to The Federalist, the ruling is significant because, unlike other decisions saying bans on dismemberment abortions are unconstitutional, “it is based on a state constitutional right to abortion.”
The ruling uses language to describe the process of killing the baby as a woman’s decision to not continue a “pregnancy”.
“Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights provides: ‘All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’, the decision begins.
“We are now asked: Is this declaration of rights more than an idealized aspiration? And, if so, do the substantive rights include a woman’s right to make decisions about her body, including the decision whether to continue her pregnancy?” it continues.
“We answer these questions, ‘Yes’.”
Mary Kay Culp, Executive Director of Kansans for Life, told Life Site News that her next task in defending the unborn child would be amending the Kansas Constitution.
“What happened today is horrendous,” she said, “but we intend to amend the Kansas Constitution to make it crystal clear that there is no right to abortion in it and certainly not one that would upend 45 years of pro-life legislation.”
In a press release, she stated that the Kansas Supreme Court had created the “broadest right” to abortion in the USA.
“With today’s ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court has created the broadest right to abortion in the country,” Culp said.
“The Court has taken away the right of the people to pass reasonable abortion regulations into law, including partial-birth, live dismemberment, and sex-selection abortion bans,” she added.
“The Court puts at risk basic safety measures protecting the health of women at abortion clinics. Today, the Court has imposed on the people of Kansas a New York-style unfettered right to abortion.”
