(Updated to include comments from the Kansas Catholic Conference)
Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a bill extending $10 million in tax credits for donations to pregnancy crisis centers, saying she thought it was wrong to send taxpayer dollars to these unregulated organizations.
“These entities are not medical centers and do not promote evidence-based methods to prevent unplanned pregnancies,” Kelly said in a statement.
“This bill goes against the wishes of Kansans.”
She said voters’ rejection of a constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion from the state constitution “signaled to politicians that they should stop inserting themselves between women and their private medical decisions.”
“While some continue to meddle in Kansans’ personal lives, I remain committed to upholding the will of Kansas voters,” Kelly said.
The Kansas Catholic Conference called the veto “a ferocious assault by the abortion industry against women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy…”
“This reasonable legislation would have provided critical help for women and families seeking help with adoption, parenting classes and other life-affirming choices offered through pregnancy resource centers statewide,” said Lucrecia Nold, policy specialist for the Catholic Conference.
“It is becoming tragically clear that ‘pro-choice’ is empty rhetoric, and really means abortion is the one and only preferred option for women seeking authentic choices for their unplanned pregnancy,” Nold said in a statement.
The bill extended $10 million in tax credits for donations to the pregnancy crisis centers.
It provides a 70% tax credit for contributions made to the centers.
The total amount of the tax credits would be capped at $10 million a year, with no more than $5 million per year in credits claimed for contributions to any single organization.
The bill also would create a sales tax exemption for purchases by a pregnancy resource center or residential maternity facility.
It also would have established adoption savings accounts, allowing someone to open a bank account designated to pay for or reimburse expenses for the adoption of a child.
The Senate voted 29-10 to pass the bill, more than enough for an override.
The vote was 83-38 in the House with two conservative Republicans absent and not voting, including state Rep. Randy Garber and Michael Houser, who has been seriously ill.
Abortion rights supporters have accused the centers of misrepresenting themselves as health care providers in the guise of preventing abortion.
Others says the centers provide a valuable social service to women and the tax credits help them continue that work.
Kansans for Life – a supporter of the legislation – said there are more than 50 pregnancy resource centers and maternity centers across the state.
KFL lobbyist Jeanne Gawdun told lawmakers in written testimony that the centers’ services include providing information on pregnancy, parenting and adoption as well as assistance with housing, transportation and utilities.
She said they also provide maternity clothing, diapers, formula and baby clothes.
The centers, she said, operate largely on private donations, and “tax credits would help encourage more individuals and businesses to financially support these organizations and the great work they do.”
Meanwhile Planned Parenthood Great Plains told lawmakers that the “centers present themselves as healthcare clinics with the intention of persuading pregnant people against seeking abortion care.”
Planned Parenthood said those centers were considered “unethical” by groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association.
“On the surface, this bill appears to support pregnant Kansans,” said Taylor Morton, lobbyist and policy analyst for Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
“But in reality, (the bill) would incentivize individuals and business to donate to (crisis pregnancy centers) and divert funds away from the legitimate comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care,” Morton said in written testimony.
