KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jessica Babler, a nursing student at Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, Missouri, is tired of being vilified for wanting to provide abortions, which she views as health care, to her patients.
Babler hopes to be an OB-GYN nurse and practice in Kansas, but she said the Kansas Legislature’s continued efforts to limit abortion — even after Kansans overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment which would have restricted or banned abortion in 2022 — have caused her to reconsider where she wants to practice.
For Babler, a state’s laws on abortion, which will decide what kind of care she is allowed to provide, is a central factor when choosing where to practice. Missouri’s near-total abortion ban made Babler want to practice in states where abortion laws are more lenient despite attending school in Missouri.
