Written by Tim Carpenter | Gov. Laura Kelly used her veto pen on Friday to defeat a bill that would ban gender identity medical care for transgender youth, introduce a vague crime of coercing abortions, and require widespread vetting of women seeking abortions that was sure to spark veto override attempts in the Republican-led House and Senate.
The Democratic governor’s decision to use her authority to veto these health care and abortion rights bills was not surprising given her previous opposition to lawmakers interfering with personal decisions that she believed should remain the purview of families and doctors.
kelly said Senate Bill 233A bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans minors in Kansas is an unwarranted attack on the small number of Kansans under the age of 18. He said the bill is based on the politically distorted belief that Congress knows better than parents how to raise children.
She said it’s not conservative or Kansas values that prevent medical professionals from performing surgery or prescribing puberty blockers on patients. She said it was wrong to revoke a medical license based on a patient’s health interests. Under the bill, doctors who violate the law could face lawsuits and cannot rely on physician liability insurance to defend them in court.
“Let me be clear: this law tramples on the rights of parents,” Kelly said. “The last thing I want to be involved in as a politician is between parents and children who need medical care of any kind, but that’s exactly what this bill is about.”
Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Andover) and House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) condemned the veto and promised to override it when lawmakers return to the Capitol on April 26. The trans bill passed 27-13 in the Senate and 82-39 in the House, suggesting both chambers are within striking distance of the two-thirds majority needed to block the bill. Governor.
“The governor has made it clear once again that the radical left has veto power,” Masterson said. “This dedication to extremism is intolerable. I look forward to overriding her veto when I return in two weeks.”
Human Rights Campaign senior director Catherine Oakley said the ban on critical and medically necessary health care for transgender youth is discriminatory, aimed at spreading dangerous misinformation, and timed to infuriate anti-LGBTQ activists.
“All trusted healthcare organizations representing more than 1.3 million physicians in the United States require age-appropriate, gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary people,” Oakley said. “This is why the majority of Americans oppose the criminalization and banning of gender-affirming care.”
forced abortion
Mr. Kerry also uses his veto power. House Bill 2436 This would create a felony of physically, financially, or written coercion of a girl or woman to terminate a pregnancy despite the expressed desire to carry the fetus. The measure was approved 27-11 in the Senate and 82-37 in the House, potentially allowing another veto override.
The bill would impose a penalty of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine for anyone found guilty of coercing an abortion. If the adult applying the pressure is the father of the unborn child and the pregnant woman is under 18, the fine can increase to $10,000. If the coercion involves stalking, domestic violence, kidnapping or about 20 other crimes, the prison sentence can increase to 25 years in prison.
Kelly said no one should be forced to undergo medical treatment against their will. She said threatening violence against another person is already a crime in Kansas.
“Furthermore, I am concerned about the ambiguous language of this bill and its potential to intrude into private and often difficult conversations between individuals and their families, friends, and health care providers,” the governor said. “This overly broad language risks criminalizing Kansan people who may be confiding in a loved one or simply sharing their expertise as health care providers.”
Hawkins, the House Republican leader, said coercion is wrong regardless of the circumstances and that Kelly’s veto of the bill was too far to the left.
“It’s a sad day for Kansas because our governor’s uncompromising support for abortion doesn’t even allow him to advocate for victims of human trafficking and abuse who are forced to have abortions,” Hawkins said.
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Vote, said HB 2436 equates abortion with a crime, perpetuates a false narrative and seeks to erode the fundamental constitutional right to bodily autonomy. The bill did not protect Kansas from reproductive coercion, such as forced pregnancy or contraceptive tampering.
“Planned Parenthood Great Plains Vote believes in patients and stands firmly against any legislation that seeks to undermine reproductive rights or restrict access to essential health care services,” said Welsh.
Daniel Underwood, a spokesperson for Kansas for Life, said “Force Kelly” showed a lack of compassion for women forced into abortions by the latest veto.
Abortion research
The House and Senate have approved a bill that would require more than a dozen questions to be added to surveys of women attempting abortions in Kansas. The wide-ranging debate in the House of Commons also included consideration of the public health benefits of requiring men to be interviewed about why they sought birth control through a vasectomy or turned to a medical professional for treatment of erectile dysfunction.
House Bill 2749 If passed 81-39 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would be required to report twice a year on responses to the expanded abortion survey. Kansas cannot require women to answer survey questions.
In his veto message, Kelly called the bill “invasive and unnecessary” and said lawmakers should have considered the August 2022 failure of an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have paved the way for legislation to further restrict or eliminate access to abortion.
“There is no valid medical reason to force Congress to disclose whether a woman has been a victim of abuse, rape, or incest before obtaining an abortion,” Kelly said. “There is also no good reason to force women to disclose to Congress why they want an abortion. I refuse to sign a bill that goes against the will of the majority of Kansans who spoke out on August 2, 2022. Kansans do not want politicians involved in their personal health care decisions.”
The Welsh representative from Planned Parenthood Great Plains said the bill would force health care providers to “interrogate patients seeking abortion care,” invading patients’ privacy while inflicting unreasonable emotional distress.
Hawkins, the Republican House speaker, said Kansas’ record number of abortions – an increase caused by bans and restrictions imposed in other states – is enough to scrutinize KDHE’s report on abortions. He also said there was no need for the governor to suppress coverage of abortion, and accused the governor of exploiting “irrational fears of offending the for-profit pro-abortion lobby.”
*************************************************************************************************
Tim Carpenter has covered Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years for the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked at the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.
previous story previously published By Kansas Reflector and republished with permission.
*************************************************************************************************
The Kansas Reflector is a nonprofit news organization that provides in-depth coverage, diverse opinions, and daily coverage of state government and politics. This public service is provided free of charge to our readers and other news organizations. We’re part of States Newsroom. States Newsroom is the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, reporting from every capital city.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
