Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2008
Kinzer's abortion bill passes House
Jack Weinstein
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ReprintOlathe Rep. Lance Kinzer’s bill to strengthen late-term abortion restrictions passed through the Kansas House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The goal of the bill, a House substitute for SB 389, would be to prevent coerced abortions and provide more information for women before they receive the procedure. It passed 84-40.
“Passage of this bill is a huge step forward in protecting women and unborn children in Kansas,” Kinzer said in a statement.
Mary Kay Culp, executive director of anti-abortion organization Kansans for Life, said the bill would protect women rather than abortion providers. She said the bill filled some holes in the existing legislation that allowed abortion providers to operate “without any real oversight for years.”
“Kansas was listed by a national legal pro-life organization of being fifth in the country for the quality of our pro-life laws,” she said. “I don’t think anybody does a list for poor enforcing, but we’d be at the top of that list.”
Not everyone’s on board with the bill.
Julie Burkhart, chief executive for the abortion-rights group ProKanDo, said in a statement that the bill was broad, vague and even unconstitutional.
“Anti-choice leaders claim that they are trying to protect women with this measure, but the truth is that they simply don’t trust them to know what is best for their own lives,” she said. “If this bill becomes law, it will serve only to clog up the courts, pry into private medical records and shame women who are faced with difficult life decisions.”
Specifically, the bill would require abortion providers to:
• show women ultrasound images and allow them to listen to the the fetal heartbeat.
• provide women with copies of documents stating viability of the fetus or why the abortion is justified under state law 30 minutes before the procedure.
• inform women of free counseling and hospice services 24 hours before the procedure.
• inform parents of their children’s intent to have an abortion.
• report incidences of child sexual abuse to the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
• seek identification of the mother and anyone who accompanies a minor to get an abortion.
• post a sign telling women they can’t be coerced into having an abortion and can seek assistance from law enforcement or change their minds at any time.
Of the more than 2,500 late-term abortions (abortions performed after the 22nd week of gestation) that have been performed since the current statute was passed in 1998, none has been performed to prevent “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the mother, as the law stipulates, Culp said.
When Kinzer introduced the bill in February, it included requiring doctors to provide a more specific diagnosis for the procedure instead of only restating the law. Kinzer removed that provision to give the bill a better shot at being approved.
Last year, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a similar provision because of privacy concerns she had for the women who received the abortions.
A provision in the bill would allow the attorney general and district and county attorneys who suspect a crime has occurred to receive abortion reporting data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). It also allows a group of 10 Kansans to sue the department for that specific diagnosis information if it fails to issue the public abortion data report required by law.
“Today, the Kansas House passed meaningful legislation to reduce the practice of late-term abortion by informing and protecting women forced to consider this option,” House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, said in a statement.
“This is a decisive victory for those working to protect women and their unborn children.” After Tuesday’s action in the House, the Senate will consider the bill.