The outcome also suggested that a sizeable number of Republicans voted against the proposed amendment. At least 28% of registered unaffiliated voters, who couldn’t vote on anything else on ballots on Tuesday, voted on the proposed amendment. More than half of registered Democrats and Republicans cast ballots. Over the previous 10 years, turnout for a mid-term primary has averaged less than 26%, with Republicans casting twice as many ballots as Democrats.īut turnout for this election topped 45% - almost 915,000 voters - approaching levels normally seen during a fall election for governor.
The election in Kansas coincided with the state’s primary. In Kentucky, donations to the abortion rights cause poured in immediately, said Tamarra Wieder, state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. Officials with several national abortion rights groups argued that the vote shows it’s a mistake for Democrats in red states like Kansas to avoid talking about abortion and that support for abortion rights can drive voters to the polls. They took the outcome as confirmation that preserving access to abortion is popular. HOW WAS THE OUTCOME OF THE KANSAS VOTE A SURPRISE?Ībortion rights supporters prevailed by nearly 18 percentage points in the Republican state with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement. That would have opened the door for the GOP-controlled Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion and nullify a 2019 decision by the Kansas Supreme Court that access is a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights. Voters rejected a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution declaring that it grants no right to abortion. Wade in late June, and it upended political assumptions.
The Kansas vote was the first test of public feeling about abortion rights since the U.S. No other abortion initiatives are likely to make a state’s November ballot. Opponents argue federal law already offers those protections. in the November election.įour other states - California, Kentucky, Michigan and Vermont - could have votes in November on abortion access, and a fifth, Montana, is voting on a measure that would require abortion providers to give lifesaving treatment to a fetus that is born alive after a botched abortion. (AP) - Abortion opponents were shocked and abortion rights advocates energized by a decisive statewide vote in heavily Republican Kansas this week in favor of protecting abortion access, yet it’s not likely to translate into new abortion votes across the U.S. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
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