Kansas voters surprised the nation and reframed the midterm elections by voting overwhelmingly against removing abortion rights from the state constitution. It was a sharp rebuke in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal in June of Roe v. Wade, the court’s landmark abortion decision, and while it’s premature to speculate on the impact nationwide, the result rightly emboldens Democrats and Roe supporters to make abortion a defining choice for voters in November.
Tuesday’s referendum marked the first time Americans voted on abortion in the post-Roe era, and the decisive margin in this reliably conservative state — 59 to 41 percent, with about 98 percent of the votes counted — has firmly moved abortion to a top-tier issue. The result was all the more surprising given that registered Republicans far outnumber Democrats in Kansas, a largely white, Christian and heavily evangelical state that typically supports Republicans for president. Crossover appeal for abortion rights in Kansas should give confidence to Democrats in more competitive states, including Florida.
The Kansas Supreme Court blocked a state law in 2019 that banned an abortion procedure, holding that the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protected a woman’s access to abortion. In reaction, the state’s supermajority Republican legislature put a referendum on Tuesday’s primary ballot that would have cleared the way for new restrictions. While a ban would not have gone in place immediately, lawmakers could have adopted one. The voters’ rejection on Tuesday effectively bars lawmakers from passing new restrictions and leaves a high legal hurdle for impeding access to abortion.
