Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday warned that a proposed constitutional amendment reversing a state Supreme Court ruling on abortion will deter businesses from coming to Kansas.
Less than 24 hours after the Senate approved the amendment, Kelly used her platform as governor to campaign against the measure, which is now headed to the House for consideration.
“We have businesses looking at Kansas and considering relocating and growing our economy,” Kelly told reporters at a hastily called news conference in the aftermath of the Senate’s vote.
“Regressive actions such as the one endorsed last night in the Senate, will make companies think twice about coming here,” she said.
“This only creates another hurdle for businesses interested in recruiting talented, young people to our state.”
As governor, Kelly does not have a prominent role deciding the fate of the constitutional amendment, which must be approved by two-thirds of the Kansas Legislature. The bill will go to the voters if it’s approved by the House.
The amendment would overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that found a woman’s right to an abortion is protected by the state constitution.
Kelly used her position as the state’s chief executive to condemn the amendment, which she said would impinge on the fundamental freedom of women to make decisions about their own health care.
Kelly noted that officials in Birmingham warned that the city could suffer after Alabama banned nearly all abortions last year. A national business adviser call the ban a “giant misstep” for economic development in Alabama.
She also pointed to Georgia, which banned abortion when a fetal heartbeat could be detected, as another example where several media companies threatened to leave the state.
“After years of devastation, Kansas is finally beginning to rebuild not only our state government but also our reputation around the country,” she said.
“I’m speaking out today against this constitutional amendment and the damage it will do to our state, our economy and the women of Kansas.”
The amendment gives lawmakers the right to regulate abortion despite the state Supreme Court’s ruling, which set a higher judicial standard for evaluating abortion regulations passed by the Legislature.
Abortion opponents contend that the court’s decision threatened a series of abortion limits pass by the Legislature in the last decade, including clinic regulations that have been blocked in court since 2011.
Less than 45 minutes after Kelly’s news conference, a group of Republican female legislators, led by Senate President Susan Wagle, met with reporters to respond to the governor.
“Just a few moments ago, the governor inserted herself into a process which she has no authority over,” said Wagle, alluding the fact that the governor can’t veto the constitutional amendment.
Wagle recited Kelly’s record voting for abortion rights when the governor was in the state Senate, including her opposition to 2011 clinic safety regulations that were ultimately blocked in court.
Wagle said the same abortion laws that Kelly opposed as a state senator are imperiled by the Supreme Court ruling.
Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner accused the governor and opponents of the amendment of misrepresenting the measure as an abortion ban.
“They want to perpetuate a myth. They want to perpetuate a lie,” Baumgardner said. “What we want to assure is that we have safe oversight for clinics.”
Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries said the amendment essentially asks whether voters want to keep abortion clinic regulations that are on the books.
“The bottom line to all of this is: We are not banning abortions,” Humphries said.
“We are not doing anything other than putting it on the ballot for the people of Kansas who feel passionately about this topic so they can vote (and) decide what they want to do about this.”
Republican leadership in the House is issued separate statements from House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins and Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch defending the abortion amendment.
“What the Governor is really saying is that she doesn’t want the people of Kansas to have a say on this issue,” Ryckman said.
“The constitutional amendment would restore the power to the people, so that Kansans—not politicians or judges—can make the call,” he said.
They accused the governor and opponents of the amendment of spreading false information about the amendment.
