TOPEKA, Kan. _ Women have the right to end a pregnancy, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a decision that plunges the state into a bitter fight over abortion rights.
The court found Friday that the Kansas Constitution _ in addition to the U.S. Constitution _ protects the right to an abortion. Republican lawmakers immediately vowed to pursue an amendment to change that.
At stake is whether Kansas would ultimately continue to allow abortion if the federal right to the procedure is ever eliminated.
"Today we hold our Kansas Constitution's drafters' and ratifiers' proclamation of natural rights applies to pregnant women. This proclamation protects the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy," the justices said in the court's majority opinion.
Six of the seven justices found the state constitution protects the right to an abortion. Only Justice Caleb Stegall dissented.
Anti-abortion lawmakers are expected to try hard to advance an amendment to change the constitution. The outcome of that battle could ultimately determine whether Kansas continues to allow abortion if the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide is overturned.
"I think this puts a whole load on the pro-life movement," said Mark Gietzen, who heads the Wichita-based Kansas Coalition for Life and organizes the daily protest at the Trust Women clinic, which provides abortions. "We have to now do an amendment to the constitution. There's no other choice."
House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said his chamber is working to develop a solution that allows voters to decide "whether Kansas continues as a pro-life state or becomes a pro-abortion state."
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said nowhere in the state constitution is there a "right to the violent act of abortion." Wagle labeled the Supreme Court as liberal and activists and said the justices "showed just how out of touch they are with Kansas values."
Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Jake LaTurner called the decision "one of the darkest days in our state's history."
Democrats and abortion rights supporters welcomed the decision. Unless the state constitution is changed, the ruling ensures that women will be able to terminate a pregnancy regardless of what happens at the federal level.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat and abortion rights supporter, said in a statement that while federal law had long guaranteed the right of women to make their own health care decisions, "I'm pleased that the Kansas Supreme Court's decision now conclusively respects and recognizes that right under Kansas law as well."
Planned Parenthood said the decision recognizes the monumental nature of the precedent in favor of abortion rights set by Roe v. Wade.
"This sends a strong signal to our legislators that they can no longer use politically motivated and medically unnecessary restrictions to block women from the health care they need and deserve," said Rachel Sweet, the organization's regional director of public policy and organizing.
The fight over a constitutional amendment could upend the remaining days of the legislative session when the Legislature returns to Topeka on May 1. Supporters will need two-thirds support in both the House and Senate to advance a proposal.
It would then go to a statewide vote. Lawmakers would set the date of the election and Kelly wouldn't be able to veto the amendment.
"I don't think it's over, I don't think this is the final word, I certainly hope and pray that we don't go back to those dark days," Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican, said.
But there is some question over how quickly lawmakers could advance an amendment. Gietzen said it would be "humanly impossible" to get a constitutional amendment through the Legislature in the final days of 2019 session.
But he said the organizational work will start now so the amendment could be teed up for the Legislature next year and passed in time for the 2020 election ballot.
"2019 has to be grass-roots (organizing)," Gietzen said. "It's where it has to start, with the people. We're still a government of the people, not the government of a misguided court."
A proposed amendment would almost certainly trigger an intense debate among Kansans, with both sides campaigning aggressively in the months and weeks leading up to the vote.
Before the Roe v. Wade decision, states had the power to decide whether to allow abortion. Approval of the amendment would mean the Legislature could ban abortion in Kansas if the federal decision is ever overturned.
Both abortion rights supporters and opponents believe the U.S. Supreme Court is more likely to reverse Roe now than in the past because the addition of Brett Kavanaugh gives conservatives a clear majority on the court.
Friday's decision stemmed from a 2015 law banning dilation and evacuation, a procedure used in 95 percent of second-trimester abortions that involves using surgical tools to remove the fetus. Opponents of the procedure call it a "dismemberment abortion."
The ban _ the first of its kind to be passed by any state _ has not gone into effect during litigation. The Supreme Court on Friday kept an injunction against the law in place and told a lower court to reevaluate the law based on its decision.
The Supreme Court's majority opinion found that section 1 of the Kansas Constitution's Bill of Rights protects every person's natural "right of personal autonomy" and that the right allows a woman "to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life _ decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy."
Stegall, in his dissent, said the court was issuing the "most significant and far-reaching decision" it had ever made.
"The majority's decision is so consequential because it fundamentally alters the structure of our government to magnify the power of the state _ all while using that power to arbitrarily grant a regulatory reprieve to the judicially privileged act of abortion," Stegall wrote. "In the process, the majority abandons the original public meaning of section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and paints the interest in unborn life championed by millions of Kansans as rooted in an ugly prejudice."
The decision will cast a shadow over an expected push to override Kelly's veto of a bill that would require abortion clinics to tell women about how to potentially reverse a medication abortion. It also may open other restrictions on abortion, such as font and type size requirements for information provided in abortion clinics, to new legal challenges.
The court's decision _ spurred by a lawsuit from physicians Herbert Hodes and Traci Nauser _ was one of the most-anticipated decisions in recent Kansas history. The justices took more than two years to issue their opinion after holding oral arguments in March 2017.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit in 2015 on behalf of the physicians, who work at the Center for Women's Health in Overland Park. The lawsuit argued the 2015 law illegally interfered with the right to an abortion and that Kansas couldn't ban dilation and evacuation abortions because of previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
The case reached the state Supreme Court after a lower-court judge ruled the state constitution protects the right to an abortion. The Kansas Court of Appeals then upheld the ruling after an effective tie. Seven judges sided with the state and seven sided with the doctors, though one issued a separate concurring opinion.
"I am just shocked and amazed and I think it's really great that in the center of the country that we've been able to protect women's rights like this," said Erin Thompson, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
The law was a centerpiece anti-abortion achievement for Sam Brownback, who signed numerous anti-abortion bills during his time as governor. Brownback traveled around the state holding a series of ceremonial bill signings to mark passage of the legislation.
A spokeswoman for Brownback didn't respond to a request for comment Friday.
The legislation was passed during an era when the Republican-controlled Legislature could count on a Republican governor to approve anti-abortion legislation. But with Kelly now in office, abortion restrictions are much more likely to be vetoed.
