Fathers could be responsible for picking up the cost of child support from the moment of conception under legislation that Kansas lawmakers are considering.
Bills introduced in the House and Senate would give mothers the ability to receive child support payments while they are pregnant.
The legislation, similar to an idea already proposed in Congress, would require direct medical and pregnancy-related expenses to be added to state guidelines that courts must consider in awarding child support.
The amount of child support would be calculated from the date of conception plus interest.
Currently under Kansas law, the parental relationships are not established until there is a live birth.
There was concern expressed during a hearing Monday about the legal implications of writing “fetal personhood” into law and whether it advanced attempts to limit abortion rights in Kansas.
Brittany Jones, director of policy and engagement for Kansas Family Voice, said the bill only requires judges to consider child support payments for pregnancy-related expenses.
“It’s a simple bill,” Jones told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
“It simply ensures that when a court is considering child support they should consider the unborn child,” she said.
“It’s important to ensure that fathers are providing for their children, that they are ensuring that their children are taken care of,” she said.
Jones said it doesn’t change any of the legal proceedings related to child support, only that it be considered by the court in those cases.
She said the bill doesn’t change how paternity would be determined, saying there are already procedures for doing that. She said that could be done after birth or in utero.
Democratic state Sen. Ethan Corson of Fairway questioned “the fetal personhood” aspects of the legislation.
“It strikes me that enshrining fetal personhood into our statutes would have far-reaching implications on really a whole host of civil and criminal laws,” Corson said.
“I’m not sure the committee has a good grasp on that,” he said.
Jones told Corson that there are already parts of Kansas law that recognize a fetus as life in cases of criminal proceedings.
She cited Alexa’s law in which someone can be convicted for any number of crimes against a fetus.
“This is not the first time that we’ve seen this in the code,” she said.
“We have a public policy of supporting life and recognizing life in the womb in Kansas,” she said.
The bill “doesn’t have other impacts on the code,” she said
“It simply recognizes that for these proceedings that women deserve support and that these children deserve the support of their father.”
Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes opposed the legislation, saying it would foster an agenda against abortion rights in Kansas.
Taylor Morton told senators the bill would establish “fetal personhood” language, which is “really just a means of advancing an anti-abortion agenda in Kansas.”
Morton called it a “tactic that’s been used by those who oppose comprehensive sexual reproductive health and health care by elevating the rights of the fetus equal to or even superior to those of a pregnant person.”
She said it is part of strategy to enact “anti-abortion laws down the road” in opposition to “broad public support for abortion access in Kansas.”
Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejectd a constitutional amendment in 2022 that would have removed the right to an abortion from the state constitution.
There were 12,732 children born out of wedlock during 2023 in Kansas, with an average of 13,000 children born out of wedlock over the previous five years, state officials said.
The health care costs associated with pregnancy and childbirth average almost $19,000, including $2,854 paid out-of-pocket, a KFF analysis of large employers’ insurance claims found.
A 2022 poll by the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy showed that about half of Americans favored child support starting at conception.
Forty-seven percent said they favor child support starting at conception and 28% opposed, while 25% were unsure.
About 46% of those who favored starting child support at conception described themselves a “pro-life” and 49% who opposed said they were “pro choice.”
About 47% of those supporting child support compensation before birth were Republicans, 53% were Democrats and 40% were independents.
The first state believed to have adopted a similar law was Utah, where lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 requiring biological fathers to pay half of a woman’s out-of-pocket pregnancy costs.
Georgia also has a similar law on the books that allows an expectant mother to seek reimbursement for direct medical and pregnancy-related expenses from the child’s father.
Georgia, which bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, also allows pregnant women to count a fetus as a dependent on their tax return.
