Governor Colyer, seen above in the shadow of Sam Brownback, is looking for a way to get out of that shadow and be seen as the Republican Governor deserving of an election opportunity of his own. Today, Governor Colyer thinks he may have found his issue — a constitutional amendment defining, once and for all, that women do not have the right to abortion services in the state of Kansas.
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“This is violence against basic facts,” Colyer said. “The stakes are so high, the issue is so foundational, the people of Kansas must have the final say.”
Republican Rep. Chuck Weber of Wichita said he’s been talking with other legislators about an amendment if the court finds a right to abortion in the constitution.
“[That] would definitely stoke the conversation,” Weber said. “I haven’t heard a lot at this point to push it without that.”
The Legislature has approved additional abortion restrictions in recent years and Weber said he believes a constitutional amendment would have broad support.
“A constitutional amendment … would just take this question out of the hands of unelected judges in the future,” Weber said. “It would really reflect the will of the people.”
There is one problem with the basic facts that Governor Colyer seems to want to address, that fact is that a state constitutional amendment does nothing to overrule the US Supreme Court’s rulings on the matter.
Such an amendment was tried in Mississippi in 2011, and failed disastrously at the ballot box.
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In the end, those concerns won out in a strongly anti-abortion state. The amendment trailed 59 percent to 41 percent with more than half of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has said it will fail.
Had the measure passed, many thought it would have led to a new nationwide dialogue on abortion.
The measure earned the support of both Republicans and Democrats in Mississippi — including both of the major parties’ nominees for governor — but some of them hesitated to support it, including outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour (R).
Kansas constitutional provisions are the same — a 2/3 vote in the house and senate and then passed on to the voters. Are there enough votes in the state house to do it? That’s certainly questionable. But are there two-thirds of the voters in the state ready for a negative definition constitutional amendment, and one that is unenforceable from the beginning?
Kansas would join Alabama in an effort to put the issue on the 2018 general election ballot, a play by conservatives that they hope will turn out voters in a fall election.