Kansas legislators' ban on abortion pills was put on hold by a judge there Monday. District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram also blocked the state's 1997 law requiring women to wait 24 hours for an abortion after requesting one. The ruling follows a 2022 statewide vote in Kansas which affirmed support for abortion access under the state constitution.
"The Court has great respect for the deeply held beliefs on either side of this contentious issue," Jayaram wrote in his 92-page order. "Nevertheless, the State's capacity to legislate pursuant to its own moral scruples is necessarily curbed by the Kansas Constitution and its Bill of Rights."
Jayaram's order is set to remain in effect through the trial set for the end of June 2024 for a lawsuit filed by abortion providers, against state officials who would enforce abortion restrictions. The providers filed their case in Johnson County in the Kansas City area, home to two clinics that provide abortions.
This is why conservatives are so desperate to prevent votes on abortion access. They tend to lose them, and those votes can directly shape state constitutions. They are getting desperate in Ohio, next up, despite inconclusive polls.
