The liberal media is running away with with the demise of the Value Them Both Amendment to the Kansas Constitution which was a ballot measure in their primary election. However, this cannot be used to make sweeping generalizations about the popularity of Roe v Wade, as the ballot question was horrendously worded.
22. Regulation of abortion. Because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, laws that account for circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother
Someone who is genuinely pro-life could easily get confused by this ballot question, because a constitutional amendment to overturn a specific court precedent mentions rape and incest. The context is that the pro-life movement was seeking to solidify that the Kansas constitution does not affirm abortion, an implied right based on court fiat. This ballot question strays far into the weeds talking about the state legislature.
Because the ballot question was confusing, the state legislature put in an explainer which placed the ballot measure outside the popular view of most Americans. This did no service to get votes from non pro-life people.
Additionally, this was not an “equal rights amendment.” An equal rights amendment could have been worded as to unborn human beings are endowed inalienable rights in the constitution. But this would be a pro-life amendment, not a pro-life feminist amendment. How you frame the argument is essential. An “Equal Rights Amendment” could have tricked many pro-abortion people. It would not have strayed into the weeds of incest and rape exceptions, two things that get many normies suddenly pro-abortion. And it would not have needed such a lengthy explainer.
The “Value Them Both Amendment” was a pro-life feminist creation, in that there is an underlying premise that the woman is the victim of abortion not the perpetrator. It prioritized this messaging over the unborn, and it failed accordingly.
One Response
I live in Kansas. I can sum up Kansas in these simple terms “liberal rednecks”. It’s “give my Budweiser and my AR15, but men should be able to marry or sodomize other men, and abortionists should be able to murder an infant in their mother’s womb”.The only thing keeping me in this clown world/bush league state, with its Democrat governor, is my parish and some close family members. Kansas is a red state. Yeah, right!