Republican state Rep. Don Hineman on Tuesday morning introduced an alternative constitutional amendment on abortion that calls for putting the issue on the November ballot.
The amendment introduced in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee is narrower in scope than the amendment that has already passed the Senate but is bogged down in the House.
Hineman’s amendment says that the state constitution does not “create or secure a right to an abortion or the right to require government funding of abortion.”
The amendment continues, “Except as limited by the constitution of the United States, the legislature may pass laws allowing, limiting or otherwise regulating abortion.”
Hineman’s proposal does not include language about rape, incest or the life of the mother that is contained in the amendment backed by Kansans for Life and the Kansas Catholic Conference.
The amendment backed by KFL and the Catholic Conference gives the Legislature the power to regulate abortion in cases of rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.
“This is a fresh look,” said Hineman, one of four moderate Republicans who voted against the amendment on Feb. 7.
“That is something I can support. I think there are many other people who can support that,” he said. “I think it’s worthwhile to have options.”
Hineman said he didn’t expect the bill to go anywhere soon. House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. said he had not seen the legislation could not immediately comment.
Hineman’s proposal comes as leading Republicans have been trying to break an impasse on the abortion issue, which has led to Medicaid expansion getting tangled up in the process.
The House speaker had floated the idea of splitting the debate into two resolutions that could be easier to pass.
The bills would ask lawmakers to answer separately: Should there be an election on the amendment, and secondly, when should it be held?
One resolution would propose putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would require 84 votes to pass but would not set a specific date for the election.
A second resolution would set the date of the election in August, but may not need the same 84 votes, or two-thirds majority, the amendment would need and now lacks.
The strategy would give the amendment a path around the 84-vote majority that is now a hurdle to passage.
It would give lawmakers an opportunity to support the abortion amendment but oppose the proposed primary date.
Hineman had flatly rejected the idea, saying lawmakers wouldn’t support the first bill if they knew it would lead to the second bill putting it on the ballot in August.
Abortion opponents are pushing hard for the amendment, which would reverse a state Supreme Court ruling that found the right to an abortion is protected by the state Constitution.
Supporters of the amendment believe their best chances for passing the measure is in August when turnout is smaller and Republicans tend to outnumber Democrats at the polls.
Critics said the August primary, with its limited voter turnout, was the wrong time to hold an election on an issue of such magnitude.
Jeanne Gawdun, legislative director of Kansans for Life, questioned why Hineman hasn’t tried to work with KFL on the amendment.
“We’ve been talking to legislators and we’ve been working with them and trying to get them to let us know what would be something they would support,” Gawdun said.
“He came out with something rather than coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, let’s sit down and work on this,‘” she said.
“He came out with something totally separate from the amendment that already passed the Senate,” she said.
