Next week’s primary election in Kansas will also feature a proposed amendment to the state constitution. This article does a great breakdown of the issue.
As one would expect, the anti-aborts are doing their best to cloud the issue. The amendment was put on the primary ballot in the hopes that the historically low turnout in the primary election would benefit the ‘Yes’ vote. But judging from the TV ads, yard signs, and social media posts that I’ve been seeing, I expect a large turnout and a close vote. I expect the amendment to pass, but it won’t be the landslide that our GOP legislators had expected.
A very interesting bellwether. Will the Republican Supreme Court’s decision drive people to the polls? Which people? For decades we were told real of abortion rights would lead to a political backlash from women. Now it is time to see if that is true.
Thanks for posting this @Railer13. I’ve been meaning to post about this but haven’t gotten around to it.
The pro-amendment forces, as noted in the linked article, are being very disingenuous (OK, outright lying) about the purpose of the amendment. The phrase being tossed around a lot is “common sense legislation”. If you are trying to enact common sense legislation, you don’t need this amendment to do it.
You also hear them saying “this amendment does not remove the right to abortion.” Technically that’s true. What is does do is throw the door wide open to allow the kind of restrictive abortion legislation that we are seeing in other red states.
The funny thing is, this amendment would have passed easily if not for SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade. But now the pro choice side has been energized. It’ll be interesting to see how the vote turns out.
You’re welcome. I’ve actually been waiting for a good article that explains the details of the proposed amendment, because a post that did so would be far too long. So thanks to The Intercept for delineating exactly what is at stake.
Win or lose, this will be the largest turnout in history for an August primary in Kansas.
AIUI, yes, this would be true. Not only in Kansas, but all other states as well. Which is why the Dems should have codified Roe v Wade when they had the opportunity.
Not any time recently. It might have been possible during the Carter years and the first two years of Clinton’s presidency. There hasn’t been a time since then when it would have passed. Not even Obama’s first two years.
I voted at 10:30 this morning. By far the longest line I’ve ever encountered at a primary election. I know one of the ‘check-in’ women, and she confirmed that they had been busy since opening at 7:00 am.