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Kansas

“Kansans defeated the Value Them Both Amendment by 59-41 percent Tuesday (Aug. 2) in the nation’s first statewide vote on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade ruling.” - BPNews

Related: 3 reasons why conservative Kansas voted to uphold abortion rights - CPost

Discussion

Fri, 08/05/22

What Does the Kansas Vote Mean for the Future of Abortion?

But it’s also a reminder that a legal victory doesn’t necessarily win hearts and minds. Pro-life advocates won big with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, but it’s one thing to convince a judge and another to convince a community. The latter is much more difficult, and if Kansas is any indication, pro-life advocates have their work cut out for them.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Fri, 08/05/22

Despite all the support in Catholic and conservative Protestant churches, the voter turn out was about 2:1 No to Yes. Remember Yes was to stipulate the state constitution did not contain abortion protections.

What can we take away from this?

1- The main point that should be understood is the basic principle of Kansas voters, and I think Americans in general, is not pro-abortion. It is rather “leave me alone.” Americans in general do not want the government to tell them what to do. We saw that with the mask mandate. In the face of obvious need, people came up with all kinds of resistance to mask wearing (no, please don’t respond to this… the point I am making is people want to be left to make their own decisions.).

2- I suspect the Democrats will go too far with this “win” and think this means pro-abortion rather than pro-“leave me alone.”

3- You can’t regulate away sin. We are to preach the gospel, not legislate sin.

4- For the record, the Yes groups worked really hard. For several months volunteers, many of them young, went door to door promoting the Yes vote. This was not a lack of effort. It is basic American pragmatism.

5- I suspect it would have helped the pro-Yes argument if there had been a clear articulation of what further restrictions we wanted. Kansas already outlawed late-term abortions, had a ban at 22 weeks, and did not allow public funding on them. By leaving it undeclared what new restrictions we wanted, the imagination of people was fueled by the wording of the amendment which said the Legislature could ban abortions even in cases of rape, incest, and health of the mother.