All eyes are on Republican state Sen. Dennis Pyle as the Senate gets ready to make another run at passing a constitutional amendment on abortion.
The Senate was set to debate the bill last Thursday, but action was delayed when Pyle and another Republican, Sen. Bud Estes, were absent.
Estes, of Dodge City, has been sick for months, but many Republicans and abortion opponents were left puzzled when Pyle was absent Thursday.
The amendment, which would ensure that abortion is not a protected right in the state constitution, needs support from 27 senators, or two-thirds of the chamber, for passage.
However, the Senate would have come up one vote short without Pyle and Estes since Republican Sen. John Doll of Garden City is opposed to the measure because of when it would go to Kansas voters to consider.
The Senate’s delay on Thursday filled the Capitol with rumors of Pyle’s whereabouts and questions of why the senator with a solid voting record against abortion would have missed one of the biggest votes for Republicans in the 2021 session.
Many were reluctant to publicly criticize the senator from Hiawatha in hopes that he would return to the Capitol on his own volition without exerting heavy political pressure on someone whose vote could prove critical to the fate of the amendment.
The constitutional amendment is set for another vote on Monday and it still remains uncertain whether the senator will be in the chamber when the issue returns for debate.
“I have personal issues and that is the only thing I’m going to say,” Pyle said in an interview Saturday morning.
Pyle said he supported the constitutional amendment, but questioned why action needed to be taken immediately since the public vote on the amendment wouldn’t be held until August of 2022.
“It appears to me we have all session to do this and all of next year to do this,” he said. “I understand they’re trying to rush something through.
“If I need to be there, I will get there to vote,” he said. “Right now, I have personal issues that I need to deal with.”
Pyle said he wasn’t trying to “make political gain” by his absence.
“If anyone thinks so then show me the request,” he said. “It’s not out there.”
Republican state Sen. Mark Steffen on Friday posted a video to Facebook criticizing Pyle’s absence and by Saturday it started circulating across the state.
In the video, the Hutchinson lawmaker took aim at Pyle for missing Thursday’s session and putting the amendment at risk. He described the events as “crazy beyond belief.”
“I can’t tell you the whole story in this video it would take an hour, but we’ve got one little, odd senator, who’s actually a good Republican, who just decided to take off,” he said.
“We had to drop the debate in passing the ‘Value Them Both’ (amendment) because this guy decided to be a drama queen,” Steffen said. “Crazy beyond belief situation.”
“Gamesmanship, childishness, silliness from one senator, Dennis Pyle from up in the northeast part of the state, has it on hold for now,” he said.
Meanwhile, an email went to members of Kansans for Life on Saturday night expressing concern about Pyle’s absence on Thursday.
“While no one can be certain as to why he did not come to the Capitol, the timing did raise questions among those in the Capitol,” said the email from KFL’s legislative team.
“While it is certainly possible that other events did come up, we hope Sen. Pyle will be present for debate on Monday and will not hold up ‘Value Them Both.
“If he does not arrive Monday or continues to take the position of House abortion industry allies, it hinders the goal of keeping pro-life protections in place for women and babies.”
Pyle didn’t make any commitments about when he would return.
“When we get these personal issues worked out and they’re resolved, I will be back,” he said.
Mary Kay Culp, consulting executive director for Kansans for Life, said Saturday night that that Students for Life at Benedictine College in Atchison delivered an estimated 500 letters to Pyle’s home. Benedictine is in Pyle’s district.
Republican Party Chairman Mike Kuckelman said he reached out to Pyle to encourage him to show up for the vote. He left a voice mail and hasn’t heard back.
“I was told he was sick the other day…so he didn’t show up,” Kuckelman said.
“I am hopeful he will be there next week so the Senate can get that passed,” he said. “It’s up to Sen. Pyle to vote for it so we can get it done.”
The Senate is in a different place than it was last year when it passed the amendment but supporters failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass it in the House.
Last Friday, the House passed the amendment and it’s now the Senate’s turn to pass the proposal.
The Senate kept its 29-member supermajority intact after last year’s elections, but with Estes ill and Pyle gone there’s no wiggle room for supporters of the amendment.
The Senate still has 27 Republicans, but Doll said in an interview Saturday night that he wouldn’t support the amendment because of when the election would be held.
Doll said he wants the election to be held in the general election this November when voter turnout would be larger.
“I think Kansas is a pro-life state and, I think, it would pass in a general,” Doll said. “We’re talking about babies’ lives here and they’re allowing 18 months to pass.”
