Are abortion's days numbered in Kansas? The consensus among both abortion-rights supporters and opponents is "maybe." The state Legislature passed rigid new restrictions on abortion clinics in April, which included increased power for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to rewrite standards for clinics. The KDHE complied, releasing the new standards on June 17, and they won't be easy for abortion providers to meet.
Mother Jones reports:
The new requirements require facilities to add extra bathrooms, drastically expand waitingKansas clinics will be told by July 1 if they will receive KDHE licenses. Peter Browlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, told the Associated Press that closure is a real possibility.and recovery areas, and even add larger janitors' closets, as one
clinic employee told me -- changes that clinics will have a heck of a time
pulling off by the deadline. Under the new rule, clinics must also acquire state certification to admit patients, a process that takes 90 to
120 days, the staffer explained. Which makes it impossible for clinics
to comply. And clinics that don't comply with the rules will face fines
or possible closure.
And, abortion doctors say, the new restrictions don't make abortions
safer or more sanitary as anti-abortion groups have claimed. From Mother Jones:
"Enactment of this type of legislation discourages health care providersJeff Pederson, administrator at Aid for Women clinic in KCK sized upfrom offering abortion care and can make provisions very burdensome
and/or expensive for smaller providers," says Sharon Levin, vice
president of the National Abortion Federation, the professional group
representing abortion providers. The laws, Levin says, "do not make
abortion safer; they just make it more difficult for abortion providers
to remain open, and for women to access the abortion care they need."
abortion opponents' fast political operating, "They have a mandate from
God, and they need to make political hay while
they have control of the House and Senate and they have the governor's
mansion."
Operation Rescue, a prominent Wichita-based anti-abortion organization, has seized on the momentum, issuing a press release Wednesday speculating that Kansas will soon be America's first abortion-free state.
The release says:
"We have doubts that any of the abortion clinics can meet the safetyAs with all things abortion-related, an ugly, drawn-out legal battle is likely. Gird yourself.requirements of the new law," said Operation Rescue President Troy
Newman. "If they cannot comply, all three abortion clinics would be
forced to cease abortion operations, making Kansas the first
abortion-free state in the nation."
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@ justthefactsmaam: You're forgetting the part where a completely unconscious clump of cells being denied the ability to grow- pretty much a standard laboratory practice- is not equal to systematic genocide. Abortion is not murder. Abortion is a medical procedure that is only railed against because the incorrigible people in the world feel that every single chemical reaction and self-replicating organism is fully aware and conscious (and in severe cases, specifically chosen by their god).
Most of these white "lifer" men who oppose abortion are secretly gay and angry about it . . . .
We're taking away women's rights state by state. Places like Planned Parenthood & many other clinics provide services that PREVENT unwanted pregancies & therefore, unwanted and unnecessary abortions. They also provide very necessary women's health services to prevent disease and save us all money for those who have inadequate or no insurance at all. Wake up people. If men got pregnant there would be 'drive through abortions' and bowls of birth control mints at every exit in a restaurant. Federal law allows legal safe abortion - it is an agonizing choice and should be a private one. I think if we force women into having unwanted babies, we should make the irresponsible men who get them pregant raise the children.
We're taking away women's rights state by state. Places like Planned Parenthood & many other clinics provide services that PREVENT unwanted pregancies & therefore, unwanted and unnecessary abortions. They also provide very necessary women's health services to prevent disease and save us all money for those who have inadequate or no insurance at all. Wake up people. If men got pregnant there would be 'drive through abortions' and bowls of birth control mints at every exit in a restaurant. Federal law allows legal safe abortion - it is an agonizing choice and should be a private one. I think if we force women into having unwanted babies, we should make the irresponsible men who get them pregant raise the children.
Abortion is not murder. Seriously. Comparing the right to chose to the holocaust is just the facts? Might need to check your facts. Women will suffer if they do not have options.
Oh no not the dreaded back alley coat hanger argument........what next an argument about rape? For the last 30 years America has average 1 Million abortions a year. And people said the Holocaust must be remembered so it doesn't happen again.......looks like American women are the most murderous lot in the history of the world.
Never mind. It looks like the office I had in mind also falls under this new law according to The Star. However since it provides so many other services I think it would comply.
There will still be abortions in KS. People will just have to shop around. There are doctor offices that provide them and even advertise as much on their web sites. But these private doctor abortions cost, $350 to $900, according to one OP doctor's web site. Insurance may cover some of it. I think the real issue is that the clinics like Planned Parenthood can offer them cheeper and to women who lack funds or insurance.
Especially since the Righteous Right would have us back to back alley abortionists and coat hangers instead of modern medical facilities. For whatever reason it seems like there's a remarkable lack of foresight from these folks. We'll see how it goes when women are dying because of some ban on a medical procedure that the biggest best-seller on the fiction list says is wrong.
If men bore children, abortion wouldn't be functionally illegal. It'd be a gorram sacrament. Score another one for Bronze Age ideals infesting Modern Age reasoning. Why can't these people just mind their own business?
This is sad for all of the women in Kansas. Brownback and all the rest of you morons in government. OD on the jesus kool-aide. So much for separation of church and state. I have a good idea, start taxing the churches. Tax the hell out of them!!!!
Abe - are you saying Caylee should not have been allowed to have the 3 years of life that she was given? Let's just not let anyone that could potentially be abused, murdered, or commit a crime be born. Oh wait, that is everyone - end of civilization.
If lack of safe abortion meant unsanitary and/or unsafe objects being shoved into the genitals of a man, those men might be singing a different tune.
This is unfortunate for obvious reasons, but mainly because Kansas (along with other states) have been preaching job creation, job creation, job creation for the last few years and now it's going to enact this type of legislation shutting down clinics where people have jobs? It's ridiculous, all because of religious brainwashing in my opinion. That's what it will always boil down to. Kansas women looking for abortions will find other ways to get them if they want them, I know I would.
"We have doubts that any of the abortion clinics can meet the safety requirements of the new law," should read, "We have doubts that any of the abortion clinics can meet the arbitrary and unnecessary requirements (that have absolutely nothing to do with the safety of the staff or patients) of the new law."
If your beliefs do not win out in the "market place of ideas" then just arbitrarily change the laws once you have some power.
Keep fighting the good fight Operation Rescue. Maybe when abortion doesn't exist you can go rescue all the kids that are born to drug addicts and people that neglect and abuse their kids. Maybe they can go save all the living kids who get beat by their parents, let ferrets chew their fingers off. Go save the kid in Olathe whose mom is in jail for killing her drug addict boyfriend. Maybe you can go save all those kids whose moms throw them in dumpsters. Go save all the Caylee Anthony's of the world.
Cause God knows once the kids come out of the womb you don't give a fuck about them anymore.
On the bright side: more businesses moving to the Missouri side?
In all seriousness, never underestimate Kansas Republicans. The idea of persecuting planned parenthood is VERY effective in ramping up support among their base. It also makes Brownback look like a hard-nose super-conservative in the event he's thinking of a presidential run (maybe 2016?)
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