Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is raising money to help oppose the Kansas abortion amendment, yet another sign of the significance the issue is playing on the national stage and the new energy feeding the debate.
Warren has sent out emails, texts and made social media posts trying to raise more money for what is already one of the costliest primary campaigns in Kansas history.
Warren is targeting Kansas, where voters on Aug. 2 will decide whether they want abortion to be a right protected by the Kansas Constitution.
She’s also trying to raise money for an effort in Michigan where abortion supporters are trying to cement the right to an abortion in that state’s constitution.
“Kansas is an island of access in a part of the country with already very severe restrictions, so this fight has especially high stakes,” Warren said in an email that went out Friday shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.
“An organization called Kansans for Constitutional Freedom is fighting to defeat this ballot measure and to preserve reproductive freedom for women in Kansas and neighboring states,” the email said.
The Massachusetts senator has sharply criticized the court’s ruling, saying that the decision has cost the court its legitimacy.
Warren and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota wrote in The New York Times that President Joe Biden should declare a public health emergency to help “protect abortion access for all Americans” and unlock “critical resources and authority that states and the federal government can use to meet the surge in demand for reproductive health services.”
In their piece published Saturday, the senators called for remaking the court’s composition, rewriting Senate filibuster rules and overhauling the Electoral College.
They blamed the Electoral College for allowing the election of presidential candidates who lost the popular vote to nominate the five justices who later voted to reverse Roe.
“The Kansas abortion amendment is a national issue now,” said Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty.
“The Supreme Court thrust the issue into the states, and Kansas has become a big bullseye for both sides,” Beatty said.
“The Supreme Court decision made the anti-abortion folks happy, but it’s angered women on the other side to a degree unseen in the modern era.
“Many of these women on the pro choice side want to do something, and Kansas is sitting there with an abortion amendment on the ballot in just a little over a month.”
Earlier this month, the White House gender policy director and the intergovernmental affairs director met virtually with a group of lawmakers from Kansas, Louisiana and North Carolina to discuss ways to defend abortion rights.
The meeting included eight leading female legislators from Kansas, including the Senate’s top Democrat Dinah Sykes, House Minority Whip Stephanie Clayton, Senate Minority Whip Pat Pettey, Minority Caucus Chair Barbara Ballard, Senate Agenda Chair Marci Francisco and Democratic state Rep. Christina Haswood of Lawrence.
The White House said the lawmakers discussed “ongoing attacks” against abortion in those three states, including the Kansas constitutional amendment that would reverse a Supreme Court decision that found there is a right to an abortion in the state constitution.
The meeting was held June 3, weeks before the court ruled on Roe but after the opinion had been leaked to the public.
Sykes said she told the group that Kansas would be the first to vote on abortion rights following the decision on Roe.
“I know that they’re watching and trying to figure out what to do,” Sykes said of the White House staff.
Opponents of the amendment used Warren’s presence in the race to urge their supporters to oppose the amendment.
“Women across the country have just had their constitutional rights taken away and their lives put at risk. Kansas is the first state in the nation where we can fight back,” said Ashley All, spokeswoman for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom.
“We encourage Kansans to protect their constitutional rights – and those of their loved ones – by voting no on August 2,” All said in an email.
A spokeswoman for Kansans for Life criticized Warren’s involvement in the amendment campaign.
“A liberal, coastal elite like Elizabeth Warren, is openly fundraising for anti-amendment efforts for her own political gain,” Danielle Underwood said.
“While she and her camp work to force Kansas taxpayers to fund unlimited abortion until the moment of birth, the Value Them Both Amendment, the people of Kansas, and over 200 Kansas doctors, are standing up for the values of Kansans…,” Underwood said.
Supporters of the amendment have received outside support from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which is putting $1.3 million into the campaign.
Susan B. Anthony is deploying about 400 paid student canvassers who will knock on doors in Kansas City, Wichita and other cities throughout the state.
There have already been reports that Susan B. Anthony canvassers have been at doors in recent weeks, including one social media post that indicated they had already been at 100,000 doors. They ultimately want to hit 250,000 doors.
The overall broadcast campaign is now at about $5.9 million, not counting the $1.3 million that Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life is spending.
Supporters of the amendment, which have received financial backing from the Catholic church, have spent or booked about $2.8 million in broadcast ads.
Opponents of the amendment, who have received financial support from Trust Women and Planned Parenthood, have spent about $3.1 million.
In other campaigns over similar amendments in other states, churches have been the financial backbone in support of those measures while Planned Parenthood affiliates have opposed those measures.
In Tennessee in 2014, Grace Chapel of Franklin gave nearly $16,000 while other churches from across Tennessee – Catholic, Baptist and United Methodist – chipped in anywhere from about $100 to $5,500, campaign reports showed.
On the other side, Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee put at least $500,000 into the campaign along with Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest in Seattle, which gave at least $750,000.
