Kansas' top court rejects 2 anti-abortion laws, bolstering state right to abortion access
CBSN
Kansas' highest court on Friday struck down state laws regulating abortion providers more strictly than other health care professionals and banning a common second-trimester procedure, reaffirming its stance that the state constitution protects abortion access.
The Kansas Supreme Court's 5-1 rulings in two separate cases signal that the state's Republican-controlled Legislature faces stricter limits on regulating abortion than GOP lawmakers thought and suggests other restrictions could fall. Lawsuits in lower state courts already are challenging restrictions on medication abortions, a ban on doctors using teleconferences to meet with patients, rules for what doctors must tell patients before an abortion and a requirement that patients wait 24 hours after receiving information about a procedure to terminate their pregnancies.
"We stand by our conclusion that section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person's right to terminate a pregnancy," Justice Eric Rosen wrote for the majority in overturning the ban on dilation and evacuation, also known as D&E.
