TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she called a “vague” law that would make it a crime to force someone to have an abortion.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s actions set off a series of confrontations with the supermajority Republican legislature over these issues. The measures appeared to have the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override the vetoes, but Republican leaders’ success depends on how many lawmakers are absent on a given day, especially in the House of Representatives.
The term-limited governor is a strong supporter of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Republicans control the legislature, and they have joined other Republican lawmakers across the US in rolling back transgender rights.
But Kansas is an outlier on abortion among states with Republican legislatures because the Kansas Supreme Court declared in 2019 that the state constitution protects abortion rights, and a statewide vote in August 2022 firmly affirmed that position.
“Voters don’t want politicians coming between doctors and their patients by interfering in private medical decisions,” Kelly wrote in her veto message on the abortion reporting bill.
Kelly allowed one Republican Party proposal on a social issue highlighted by Republicans in the US to become law without her signature. Starting July 1, pornographic websites will be required to verify that visitors to Kansas are adults. Kansas will follow Texas and a handful of other states, despite some concerns about privacy and how broadly the law could be applied.
In rejecting an effort to have Kansas join at least 24 other states in banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors, Kelly argued that a ban “tramples on parental rights” and targets “a small group.”
“If the legislature paid this much attention to the other 99.8% of students, we would have the best schools in the world,” she wrote.
The Kansas bill against gender-affirming care would ban surgery, hormone treatments and puberty blockers, limiting care for minors to therapy.
“Hopefully this will be the end of it, at least this year, and they decide to stop wasting anyone’s time,” Jenna Bellemere, a transgender student at the University of Kansas, said after learning of the veto.
The bill would also require the state to revoke the licenses of physicians who violate the ban and prevent recipients of state funds for the treatment of children or state employees who work with children from advocating gender-affirming care for them. It would ban the use of state dollars and property for such care, placing restrictions on the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
Supporters of the bill argue that the ban will protect children from experimental, potentially dangerous and potentially permanent treatments. They have cited the recent decision by the National Health Service in England to no longer routinely cover such treatments. Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican from Wichita, said of Kelly: “The radical left controls her veto.”
“Laura Kelly will certainly find herself on the wrong side of history with her reckless veto of these common sense protections for minors in Kansas,” said Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita.
But the bans in U.S. states run counter to recommendations from major U.S. health care groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Also, many medical professionals say that providing such care makes transgender children less susceptible to depression or suicidal thoughts.
Last year, Republican lawmakers overrode Kelly’s vetoes to ban transgender girls and women from K-12 female sports teams and end state legal recognition of transgender people’s gender identities. Because of the latter law, Kansas no longer allows transgender people to change the sex entry on their driver’s license or birth certificate.
Republican lawmakers have also continued to push for new abortion laws despite the August 2022 vote, arguing that voters still support “reasonable” regulations and support for pregnant women and new mothers.
“Once again, Governor Coercion Kelly has shown how radical she is when it comes to abortion, and how she lacks basic compassion for women who are forced or even trafficked into abortions,” said Danielle Underwood, spokesperson for Kansans for Life, the most influential state anti-abortion. abortion group, said a statement.
The anti-coercion law would punish anyone convicted of making a physical or financial threat against a woman or girl to force her to have an abortion with up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $10,000. In her veto message, Kelly noted that it is already a crime to threaten another person.
Critics say it is written so broadly that it could apply to a spouse threatening divorce, or a live-in boyfriend threatening to leave unless his partner gets an abortion.
The reporting law would require providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and report the information to the state health department. Kelly and other critics argue it is invasive and unnecessary, but supporters argue the state needs better data on why women and girls have abortions to help determine policy.
“These stigmatizing bills are not designed to improve the health and well-being of Kansans,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates three clinics that provide abortions in Kansas. “They were only intended to shame reproductive care. .”