This is the latest in a series of interviews that the Sunflower State Journal has conducted with folks who have an influence on Kansas policy and politics. We recently interviewed the leaders of Kansans for Life and Planned Parenthood, two key players in the abortion debate in Kansas. Like other interviews we have done with Kansas political insiders in the past, the goal of these interviews is not to rehash a policy debate. These interviews with Peter Northcott of Kansans for Life and Emily Wales of Planned Parenthood Great Plains are not intended to replay a debate over the abortion issue or laws that have been passed or considered by the Kansas Legislature. The interviews – like others we have done in the past – are an attempt to give you some personal perspective about the people who help shape state policy, although it is difficult to avoid policy entirely. The interviews attempt to be less about policy and partisanship than they are about giving a person a chance to share a little about themselves that is generally not part of the daily news coverage.
This is Part 1 of those interviews, starting with Peter Northcott, the executive director of Kansans for Life, a position he has held since 2021.
Part 2 with Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, is running separately and apart from this interview.
Northcott joined KFL in 2019 after working as assistant state treasurer under former state Treasurer Jake LaTurner, who was elected to Congress.
Northcott also has served as legislative liaison for former Gov. Sam Brownback and chief of staff for former Kansas Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce.
He has a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Kansas and an associate degree from Johnson County Community College.
We leave Northcott’s quotes intact, although some of the interview was edited for clarity and brevity.
How did your arrive at your views on abortion?
“My parents always raised my family to be advocates for individuals that are really marginalized or vulnerable in our society. My father was in law enforcement for almost 50 years. My mom was in the medical field. They just really raised us to be grateful for really the freedoms and opportunities that we have in this country. We used to support local pregnancy centers the little way our family could at the time. We used to go to Marches for Life when we were younger. Valuing individuals in our society that were more marginalized, I think, is just something I was always raised with. I never thought this would be something I would do full time or as a career.”
What did you think you would do as a career?
“I thought I was going to go into law enforcement, actually. I thought I was going to work for the DEA. That was kind of my dream when I was in high school. I had an internship with another federal law enforcement agency when I was in college. I thought I was going to go to law school, but I had just happened into an internship at the Capitol. I interned with (former state Rep.) Arlen Siegfreid, who was speaker pro tem at the time. A good man. I started working from there on Sam Brownback’s first campaign in 2010. I worked for him for two years, lobbying the Legislature, working with now Sen. Tim Shallenburger. From there, I was in Terry Bruce’s office as majority leader for four years and worked with Jake LaTurner for a couple years. In my career in public service working for elected officials, I always worked for individuals that had a similar belief in the issue of life that I had.
“It became more personal for me, having had friends both from high school and college who had interactions with the abortion industry and really felt hurt and had bad interactions with them. Those were always top of mind throughout the public policy debate. It really became more front and center, more personal for me when my wife and I were blessed with the gift of adoption. Seeing the pressures that our daughter’s birth mother was put under and the resilience that she had in bringing our child into this world and looking at that beautiful, smiling face every day, there are children like my daughter and so many others that you can’t tell me the world’s not a better place with them in it. It is part of the values that I was raised with. I really am blessed throughout my career to having worked for similar causes in both the public policy space, but now I’m in the nonprofit world.”
What led you to get involved in politics?
“Looking at going into law enforcement, I was interested in government from that standpoint, about how our society works. It really was happenstance how I ended up interning for Arlen. I just had a friend of a friend and I applied for the internship just thinking I’d like to learn a little bit more about the system. I was very interested in campaigns and kind of how all the physics of the Capitol work. That’s what really drew me in.”
Who has had the most influence on you in politics?
“I’ve been really lucky, really blessed I think over the years to have different mentors. Spending a lot of time with Arlen, especially when I was first coming into it, Arlen was somebody who really understood how caucus operates, particularly in the House at that particular time. Arlen kind of introduced me to how the system works. I worked really closely with Tim Shallenburger. I’ve earned a political science degree, but I think I got my master’s working under Tim – Tim just having just such a high IQ of how the Capitol works. Working with Terry (Bruce). Terry was a policy and procedure wonk. Some people have said he’s like a walking statute book. Those are some people that I really looked up to. Jake LaTurner, of course, very personable. He has the ability to connect with people so well. From more of a policy standpoint, I think Kathy Ostrowski, who was a longtime policy advocate for Kansans for Life. I have had a lot of mentors over the years that had just helped instill a lot of information in me. I have tried to use that knowledge that I’ve gleaned to the best of my ability.”
In what position do you think you learned the most?
“I’ve learned different parts from different people. Tim, just with such a high IQ and his experience of inside the Capitol. Terry, no shortage of that as well. It’s really hard to peg down who I would have learned from the most. I just think I’ve had the opportunity to learn from a lot of really, really good qualified people.”
What did you learn from everyone you have worked for that you apply in your current position?
“I would say one word: Resilience. They all worked incredibly hard. They were all very strategic, and so they always were very intentional about the decisions that they made. They weren’t always quick to make a quick decision. They wanted to make the right decision. Being resilient, being intentional, but first and foremost just have care and compassion in your heart with whatever decision you make, whether it’s a public policy decision, whether it’s working to interact with your constituents. I think those individuals, particularly Jake, particularly Gov. Brownback, compassion really was first and foremost. That’s the way we try to approach things here at Kansans for Life. We are up against an industry that has unlimited resources. We’re a grassroots organization – nonprofit – started in church basements and at kitchen tables. The odds have always been against our movement way before any of us were here with this organization. Resilience is a big part of that.”
How did you end up at Kansans for Life?
“I came to Kansans for Life in 2019. I was in the treasurer’s office at the time. I moved over to Kansans for Life really after the Hodes-and-Nauser ruling. Always having been pro-life and worked with individuals who shared the value space, that’s really what I believe was ultimately what brought me over to Kansans for Life to help the movement at this important time.”
Where do you think that movement is going given how state courts have ruled on the issue in Kansas and the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion?
“I think that most Kansans would agree that too many women feel that abortion is their only choice and as a society that we can do better. As a movement, specifically here in Kansas, that is what we are focused on. We are trying to help women in difficult situations realize that abortion isn’t their only choice and that we should be there to have a hand up and help them if they so choose life that they will have every opportunity to do so.”
After the vote on the constitutional amendment in Kansas in 2022, did you consider leaving Kansans for Life? How did that vote influence you personally?
“You have to take stock in the election of what happened. The night of the election – rarely do I do press interviews – I got to go up there on that stage or I had to go up on that stage. What I told everybody is that I didn’t feel any more resolved than in that moment. I wasn’t just saying that. You look at where we’ve come, where we’re going, what we faced, really the lies that were spread throughout that campaign and lies that continue to be spread around the country that somehow say that pro-life laws are depriving women of medical care and all these other things. When you face that kind of opposition and when you face the, as mistruths are put out there, our movement is known for its resilience. We’re going to continue to be here, to be there for women in difficult situations. We’re going to stand for life.
“Of course, you have to take stock of what happened. But there was also a resolve that’s come out of election night. Our movement continues to move forward. The environment is different in a post-Roe America, of course. I think everybody has to acknowledge that. But our mission of upholding life and really focusing and trying to help those women in difficult situations is really what we’re focused on.”
Was the 2022 amendment vote a letdown for you personally?
“With any campaign I’ve been involved in, winning is so much better than not being successful. You look at it, of course, from that lens. Any time you have what’s seen as a setback is always difficult. The only way to move forward is you just have to do it. You just keep moving forward.”
How did you meet your wife?
“The long story is that we went to the same school. We were in different first grades together. But we really connected in college, I’d say, at KU.”
Can you talk about the health issues your wife is dealt with?
“My wife is one of those incredibly brave women in my life. She’s so much braver and stronger than I am. She’s had two kidney transplants in her life, one in which she was in high school and then one 7 1/2 years ago. She has a chronic kidney disease. She’ll have it for the rest of her life. So, going through the kidney transplant process was very difficult. And it’s just something that’s a trial every single day for her. She’s one of the most hopeful people I know, very optimistic about the world and really a joy to be around. She has actually done a little bit of lobbying in her life. We have a ‘Choose Life’ license plate that was approved by the Legislature. She submitted testimony on that years ago while she was on the kidney transplant list. That is her only dabbling that she’s ever done in government affairs or has an interest in it. In terms of raising awareness when it comes to the organ transplant list and care for transplant patients is something that she’s very passionate about.”
Did that lead to you adopting your first child?
“For our first six years of marriage, we were unable to have children. When my daughter was born, my wife had a kidney transplant very shortly after that. We were on the kidney transplant list and we went through the adoption process through a number of some nonprofits that were wonderful, and it was an experience that we’re so glad, not only with the wonderful daughter we were blessed with, but just to see the kind of care and compassion that those different organizations provide to connect families.”
In your role at KFL, what is your relationship with Archbishop Joseph Naumann?
“Archbishop Naumann certainly has been outspoken in his pro-life views. He certainly has been an ally of Kansans for Life. He has been a friend to Kansans for Life. We enjoy support from so many other religious traditions. We have a number of members that are not religious as well. Our membership has diverse views on so many different things, but the issues of life are where they agree. You can talk about a whole set of issues and we can rattle them off that there’s disagreement on. But when it comes to the issue of life, we’re in agreement on.”
What is the most challenging part of the role you’re in now?
“The Dobbs decision that was handed down, I don’t think anybody would disagree that it was a generation-changing event. It changed the way that I think our movement has approached the whole conversation, it certainly has here in Kansas. I think we’re in a very unique place compared to any other state in America. We’re dealing with issues of public opinion, we’re dealing with public policy discussion, very soon here we’re dealing with elections. There’s a lot of changing dynamics. A lot of people, I think, (who) operate in any issue space, any advocacy space want consistency, and there’s been a whole lot of change that we’re dealing with.
“The challenge is we have the court, which any time they see any law, even the most reasonable and basic laws surrounding the abortion industry if they’re challenged, they go under extreme court scrutiny and we have had a number of them that have been struck down so far. There’s that environment that we’re under. Our issue set when we are looking at the Capitol certainly has changed a little bit. We’ve always been in the space of wanting to care for women and children from a social service standpoint. That’s always been part of our issue set, but I’d say that’s really been an outward focus here the last couple of legislative sessions. I would say that they’ve been more front and center. Certainly, they have been part of our issue set, but I really think that’s become the big focus of where we’re at right now. We have had to delve a lot deeper into the policy side, which has been good for our movement and has been good for our organization. We’ve just had some different areas that we’re focusing on. We’ve never worked on tax policy before this last legislative session. I’ve had some background and previous work dealing with tax policy, but this legislative session dealing with the pregnancy center tax credit, so really getting up to speed on how from a tax perspective that can impact the state.”
