Kansas Legislature Fails to Override Governor’s Veto of Pro-Life Bill Giving Women Abortion Alternatives

The Kansas state legislature failed to vote today to override pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who vetoed a bill that would provide women information about abortion alternatives — specifically info for women using the abortion drug on how they can reverse the drug and save their babies from the abortion.

Abortion Pill Reversal Notification (APR) empowers women contemplating medication abortions with the knowledge that, should they change their minds about completing the abortion, there is timely medical help available to possibly save their babies.

APR was introduced in the House by lead sponsor Rep. John Eplee (R-Atchison) as HB 2274 with 59 other representatives as co-sponsors. A mirror bill, SB 167, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Molly Baumgardner (R-Louisburg) with 20 other senators as co-sponsors. The APR bill passed both chambers of the state legislature with strong, bi-partisan majorities on April 5. Within days, 2,000 Kansans contacted the governor to urge her to allow SB 67 to become law.

The method has saved hundreds of babies from abortion, including this little baby named Isaiah. But Kelly vetoed it.

Today, the Kansas Senate overrode the veto, but the state House failed to do so:

Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, successfully led adoption of an override motion by the Senate as soon as the chamber gathered following a three-week break in the 2019 session. However, the override effort subsequently fell two votes short in the House.

“I’m pleased the Legislature sustained my veto,” Kelly said. “This is unnecessary legislation that would interfere with the relationship between women and their physicians. It forces health care providers to adhere to a government mandate not adequately supported by medical science.”

Wagle, a pro-life legislator preparing for a run for U.S. Senate, said criticism of the bill was based on exaggeration and distortion.

“This bill simply gives a woman an option. It gives information,” she said. “Nothing in this statement is biased.”

The Senate voted 27-13, the minimum required for a two-thirds override. The House followed by voting 82-43 on a motion to thwart the Democratic governor’s veto. GOP leadership in the House applied robust pressure in an attempt to reach at least 84 votes, but couldn’t attain that margin.

Kansans for Life, a lobbying organization, recommended legislators support the bill and reject Kelly’s veto. A majority of abortions performed in Kansas involve the pill method and complaints about the progesterone method are unfounded, said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life.

“It is ridiculous to paint the protocol as untested and medically unsound,” Culp said.

Kansans for Life, the state’s largest pro-life organization, had called on the Kansas legislature to override the veto.

“Governor Kelly has disserved Kansas women, especially when abortions by pill have risen to over 61% of the annual total here,” KFL director Mary Kay Culp told LifeNews.com.

She added: “It is ridiculous to paint the protocol as untested, and medically unsound. The bill’s chief sponsor, Dr. John Eplee, is this year’s Kansas Family Practitioner of the Year. The Kansas affiliate of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) did not oppose the bill. The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) strongly supports it. Women seeking abortion must not be denied current medical information that can save their babies.”

Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

Culp said SB 67 will inform women considering non-surgical, ‘medication’ abortion that such procedures can be reversed applying a protocol used for decades (outside the abortion context) to maintain pregnancies threatened by miscarriage. The reversal must be sought within a few days of ingesting the first series of abortion pills at the abortion facility and before ingesting the second set of pills at home.

A recent study shows APR is safe for mother and child and that nearly 60% who undertake the reversal pill protocol, carry the baby to term, with no higher occurrence of birth defects or developmental problems than is experienced by babies in normal births. Over 500 babies have been born using the APR protocol, and the rate of women using this procedure is rapidly rising,

Seven states have already enacted Abortion Pill Reversal Notification laws and Congress is now considering the legislation, called ‘The Second Chance at Life Act.”

ACTION: Contact legislators to override the veto by going here. Contact Gov. Kelly by going here.