In so many ways, Kansas has been at the center of the battle over abortion.
There were the Summer of Mercy protests in 1991.
There was the election of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback who signed into law tighter restrictions that nearly closed the state’s abortion clinics in 2011.
The Kansas Supreme Court is considering a case that will decide whether the right to an abortion is embedded in the Kansas Constitution.
Once again, the abortion issue will be front and center in Kansas when National Right to Life brings its national convention to Overland Park at the end of June.
Somewhere between 1,200 and 1,800 people are expected to attend the event at the Overland Park Sheraton Hotel next to the convention center from June 28 to 30.
Organizers have booked 1,000 room nights for the event, which is expected to generate about $1 million for the local economy.
In the past, National Right to Life has held its convention in Milwaukee; Washington, D.C.; and New Orleans. Organizers call the event “the most important annual pro-life education event in America.”
Among the featured speakers is San Diego physician George Delgado, a leading advocate of a drug therapy that’s claimed to reverse the effects of an incomplete medical abortion.
His research has been used by conservative lawmakers in several states to justify laws requiring abortion clinics to make women aware of the alternative therapy.
Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said she believes Kansas was selected because of the timing of the state Supreme Court case.
The Kansas Supreme Court is expected to soon decide a case challenging a state law that bans some dilation-and-evacuation abortion procedures.
The law, which has been blocked by two lower courts, bars a physician from using forceps, clamps or other instruments to remove a fetus from the womb in pieces.
Kansas was the first state to ban that type of procedure, which is often used in the second trimester of pregnancy.
Abortion opponents call it a “dismemberment abortion.” Supporters say it’s the safest and most common abortion procedure in the second trimester of pregnancy.
But the issue is much broader since the lower courts found that a right to an abortion is protected by the state constitution.
Abortion opponents fear that a court decision finding a state constitutional right to an abortion could threaten other state regulations limiting the procedure.
A court decision finding a right to an abortion is expected to set off an effort to pass a constitutional amendment giving lawmakers the responsibility for deciding abortion issues.
“We suspect that part of our national group’s interest in having the event here is because of the lessons this issue offers the other states,” Culp said.
“This includes passing state constitutional amendments where necessary to uphold the status quo — that is, make clear that state legislatures reserve the right to legislate on life issues that are not in conflict with U.S. Supreme Court rulings.”
