TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday banned gender identity medical care for transgender youth, introduced a vague crime of coercing abortions, and called for widespread vetting of women seeking abortions that would ensure a veto. He used his veto pen to reject the bill to be implemented. It would defeat efforts in the Republican-led House and Senate.
The Democratic governor's decision to use her authority to veto these health and abortion rights bills is a lawmaker intervening in a personal decision that she believed should remain the purview of families and doctors. This was not surprising, given his previous opposition.
Kelly said Senate Bill 233, which would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Kansas, is an unwarranted attack on the small number of Kansans under 18, and that the bill is more important to Congress than parents. He said it was based on politically distorted beliefs that he knew better. to raise their children.
She said it's not conservative or Kansas values that prevent medical professionals from performing surgery or prescribing puberty blockers on patients. She said it was wrong to revoke a medical license based on a patient's health interests. Under the bill, doctors who violate the law could face lawsuits and cannot rely on physician liability insurance to defend them in court.
“Let me be clear: this law tramples on the rights of parents,” Kelly said. “The last place I want to be a politician is between parents and children who need medical care of any kind. But that's exactly what this law is for.”
Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Andover) and House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) responded to the governor and condemned the veto, which will expire when lawmakers return to the Capitol on April 26. I promised to look for it. The transgender bill passed 27-13. It was 82-39 in the Senate and 82-39 in the House, suggesting both chambers were within striking distance of the two-thirds majority needed to block the governor.
“The governor has made it clear once again that the radical left has veto power,” Masterson said. “This dedication to extremism is intolerable. I look forward to overriding her veto when I return in two weeks.”
Catherine Oakley, senior director of the Human Rights Campaign, said banning critical and medically necessary health care to transgender youth is discriminatory and aimed at spreading dangerous misinformation, and anti-LGBTQ+ activists. He said that he was aiming for the timing to infuriate the people.
“All trusted healthcare organizations representing more than 1.3 million physicians in the United States require age-appropriate, gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary people,” Oakley said. Ta. “This is why the majority of Americans oppose the criminalization and banning of gender-affirming care.”
forced abortion
Kelly also sponsored House Bill 2436, which would create a felony for physically, financially, or written coercion on a girl or woman to terminate a pregnancy, even if the child has expressed a desire to carry the fetus to term. also exercised their veto. The measure was approved 27-11 in the Senate and 82-37 in the House, potentially allowing another veto override.
The bill would impose a penalty of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine for anyone found guilty of coercing an abortion. If the adult applying the pressure is the father of the unborn child and the pregnant woman is under 18, the fine can increase to $10,000. If the coercion involves stalking, domestic violence, kidnapping or about 20 other crimes, prison sentences can be imposed. The sentence will be increased to 25 years in prison.
Kelly said no one should be forced to undergo medical treatment against their will. She said threatening violence against another person is already a crime in Kansas.
“Furthermore, I am concerned about this bill's ambiguous language and its potential to intrude into private and often difficult conversations between individuals and their families, friends, and health care providers.” Stated. “This overly broad language risks criminalizing Kansan people who may be confiding in a loved one or simply sharing their expertise as health care providers.”
Hawkins, the House Republican leader, said coercion is wrong regardless of the circumstances and that Kelly's veto of the bill was too far to the left.
“It's a sad day for Kansas, because the governor's uncompromising support for abortion doesn't even allow him to advocate for victims of human trafficking and abuse who are forced to have abortions,” Hawkins said.
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Vote, said HB 2436 equates abortion with a crime, perpetuates a false narrative and undermines fundamental constitutional rights to bodily autonomy. He said it was an attempt to erode the rights of The bill did not protect Kansas from reproductive coercion, such as forced pregnancy or contraceptive tampering.
“Planned Parenthood Great Plains Vote believes in patients and stands firmly against any legislation that seeks to undermine reproductive rights or restrict access to essential health care services,” said Welsh.
Daniel Underwood, a spokesperson for Kansas for Life, said “Force Kelly” showed a lack of compassion for women forced into abortions by the latest veto.
Abortion research
The House and Senate have approved a bill that would require more than a dozen questions to be added to surveys of women attempting abortions in Kansas. The wide-ranging debate in the House of Commons included the public health benefits of requiring men to be interviewed about why they sought birth control through a vasectomy or turned to a medical professional to treat erectile dysfunction. It also included consideration.
House Bill 2749, adopted 81-39 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate, would require the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to produce biannual reports on responses to the expanded abortion survey. It becomes. Kansas cannot require women to answer survey questions.
In his veto message, Kelly said the bill was “invasive and unnecessary,” and that lawmakers are seeking an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would pave the way for legislation to further restrict or eliminate access to abortion. He said that he should have taken into account that it was rejected in August 2022.
“There is no valid medical reason to force Congress to disclose whether a woman has been a victim of abuse, rape, or incest before obtaining an abortion,” Kelly said. “There is also no good reason to force Congress to reveal why a woman wants an abortion.” “Kansans don't want politicians involved in their personal health care decisions.”
The Welsh lawmaker from Planned Parenthood Great Plains said the bill would force health care providers to “interrogate patients seeking abortion care,” invading patients' privacy while causing undue emotional distress.
Hawkins, the Republican House speaker, said Kansas' record number of abortions — an increase caused by bans and restrictions imposed in other states — is enough to warrant scrutiny of KDHE's report on abortion. He said that. He also said there was no need for the governor to suppress reporting on abortion and accused him of exploiting “irrational fears of offending the for-profit pro-abortion lobby.”
