Kansas Abortion Law Blocked By Federal Judge

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal judge temporarily blocked Kansas from enforcing new abortion regulations Friday that would have prevented two of the state's three abortion providers from continuing to terminate pregnancies.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia's injunction will remain in effect until a trial is held in a lawsuit challenging the Kansas rules. A new licensing law and state health department regulations had taken effect Friday, and abortion providers were given the latest version of those regulations less than two weeks ago.

The new law requires hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices to obtain an annual license from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to perform more than five non-emergency abortions in a month. The regulations tell abortion providers what drugs and equipment they must stock and, among other things, establish minimum sizes and acceptable temperatures for procedure and recovery rooms.

In blocking the law, Murguia said evidence presented in court documents showed the providers would "suffer irreparable harm" through the loss of business and patients, and that at least two women currently seeking abortions would be harmed by not being able to go to the provider of their choice.

The licensing law was part of a wave of anti-abortion measures enacted this year by Kansas and other states with new Republican governors or GOP-dominated legislatures. Utah and Virginia are also imposing new regulations on abortion providers, but Kansas moved with unusual speed to enact its rules by Friday – a major issue in the lawsuit.

Supporters contend the new Kansas regulations will protect patients from substandard care. But abortion-rights advocates never trusted the licensing process because new Gov. Sam Brownback is a strong abortion opponent, and anti-abortion groups have advocated such rules for years.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this week by two doctors who perform abortions and provide other services at the Center for Women's Health, in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. A second clinic, Aid for Women in Kansas City, was allowed to intervene in the case. Neither has received a license.

The state's third abortion provider, a Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri clinic in Overland Park, received a license Thursday.

The Kansas attorney general's office argued that the Planned Parenthood license disproved claims by abortion-rights advocates that the state's new rules were designed to cut off access to abortion rather than protect patients.

Attorneys for the other providers argued that even with Planned Parenthood's clinic allowed to perform abortions, the needs of all patients wouldn't be met.

Murguia, a University of Kansas law school graduate, was appointed to the federal bench in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, an abortion rights Democrat.

____

Online:

Kansas Department of Health and Environment: http://www.kdheks.gov/

Center for Reproductive Rights: http://reproductiverights.org/

Comments

[WakingWinkle]

10:32 AM on 07/06/2011

It amazes me, once again, how politicians (especailly in this case with the evangelical Sam Brownback pushing his own personal agenda) can create laws and policies that hurt more people than it helps? PPFA helps over 5 millions people a year and is so fantastic that 1/3 of their budget is donations. I can understand how an anti-abortion taxpayer doesn't want to indirectly forefit their tax dollars to support abortion but something PPFA has made clear is the 330,000 kansan tax dollars they recieve does not fund their abortion clinic.

[Martha Riddle]

02:29 AM on 07/10/2011

Sam thinks he is in his kingdom...He put his religious right-wingers in charge of the SRS...and now wanting to use that entity as a "stop divorce" entity.
http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/sam-brownback-marriage-governor/ Consequently, doing every thing they can to continue abuse of women and children.
Read "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet. He, Brownback, thinks he was chosen by God to lead and if people suffer, because the end always justifies the means, then so be it. BTW...one of the models they use in The Family ... to organize and (dupe) people into following them is Hitler. Didn't see anything wrong with with killing millions because the end justified the means.

[HomeGrower]

08:23 AM on 07/05/2011

In the version of the article I'm reading...it doesnt state what the law is or the licensing requirement. Nice job huff post.

[kevingiampa]

02:29 PM on 07/04/2011

this law and these regulations are absurd.

[joeThibo]

08:12 PM on 07/04/2011

What law??

[kevingiampa]

11:56 PM on 07/04/2011

the licensing law (hint: it's in the article).

[kevingiampa]

02:28 PM on 07/04/2011

i know that i don't feel safe in any medical facility until i know the physical dimensions of the janitor's closet. thanks for the limited government, kansas.

[kevingiampa]

02:26 PM on 07/04/2011

anyone who plans to vote Republican should be forced to sit through a three-hour lecture by former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Now that's smart government.

[joeThibo]

04:22 PM on 07/04/2011

Right!! that should create more Republican voters for sure!!

[beingthebest]

09:26 AM on 07/04/2011

Tessie The idea that pro-lifers don't care about children once born is a complete fabrication.

Opposing the fraud and waste and inefficiency of govt that eschews personal responsibility, rewards the scammers while denying the truly needy (that includes needless corporate subsidies as well as welfare cheats) , and succeeds only in making more people perpetually dependent, is not equivalent to turning one's back on women and children
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tessie, first off, you give me a credible source where a Republican has talked about reviewing programs and ridding them of waste and fraud. All I hear is cuts cuts cuts. They are NOT the same thing.

Second off, if your fantasy world of every charity and church doing their bit actually worked, our poverty levels would not have skyrocketed in the last 25 years. You can't tell me the solution is to continue doing we know doesn't work. As wonderful as it is that you donate $100.00 to the church of your choice for the homeless, it just doesn't cut it. (And by the way, there is probably just as much waste and fraud in your church)

You tell people their poverty is because they aren't taking personal responsibility, yet you want to deny women the right to do exactly that and chose if they are in a place they can bring a child into the world. Which is it Tessie, should we be allowed to be intelligent adults or do you want the government to control our bodies?

[DougSmith]

12:05 PM on 07/04/2011

Tessie believes in less government spending but more government oversite of our personal decisions.

[joeThibo]

04:24 PM on 07/04/2011

How much waste fraud and abuse are supplied in programs that don't exist?? Right!! Zero

[beingthebest]

11:40 PM on 07/04/2011

That's ok, say it. But don't be like Tessie who says Republicans care about the little children and want to save all the unborn, while making cuts to services that would help them. Either you allow women to act like adults and make the best decision for them and any potential life, or you regulate our bodies and pay for those children they can't take care of.

[anitaportrichey]

02:15 AM on 07/04/2011

A woman's right to control her own body is a civil rights issue!

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans! May woman in the United States of America contuinue with the same rights men!

Obama 2012!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

[joeThibo]

04:25 PM on 07/04/2011

So why is the government trying to control your decision regarding the health care of your body??

[Lucy0808]

11:45 PM on 07/05/2011

It is not.
You don't have to do doo duu. You just pay a minimal level of "insurance". It is like auto insurance and covers the liability that every citizen has. And they do. Even those who use hospitals for emergency care and aren't collected on, those expenses go to everyone as part of their hospital healthcare costs and as increased insurance rates. We all are paying for it now, but in a way that is far more by orders since the care is last minute and aggravated/escalated duress.

[Martha Riddle]

12:43 AM on 07/04/2011

Here is the latest Sam Brownback deal ----taking us back to the 1850's un-f8cking-believable.
http://cjonline.com/news/2011-07-02/brownback-program-promotes-marriage Brownback is trying to make it more difficult to get a DIVORCE in Kansas. The person who is opposed to the divorce (quite possibly the abuser) is automatically named the "responsible" party, gets 66% of the visistation and 100% of the assets." And polygamy is also more aligned with the Bible than homosexuality...because each marriage is a separate contract, Between a man and a woman. AND...Women need to marry Up to escape poverty!! Like there are tons of wealthy guys ready to marry the poor girls,,,which would of course result in a po' ho credit for the wealthy polygamous guys. This isn't fiction.

[Lucy0808]

11:47 PM on 07/05/2011

People who mix ultra-conservative religion, capitalism, and right-wing politics are called something. If we had a royalty...(and our upper class is almost that by marriage and rights).

[Marlyn]

10:46 PM on 07/03/2011

ABORTION RIGHTS:
Abortion LAW should be based on the fact that conception requires a male and a female. So each of these people should have the right to terminate the pregnancy ... yes, forced abortion if the man is against the birth.

POPULATION BOMB!
Right now there are too many HUMAN BEINGS on Earth, and it will only get worse as time goes on. Abortion is not a crime. Bringing an unwanted child into an over-populated world IS a crime.

[Martha Riddle]

12:58 AM on 07/04/2011

Perhaps the male should be able to abscond all rights to the child in utero. If the mom chooses to go ahead with the pregnancy, she knows the deal. He isn't going to be around. It gets sticky if the mom wants to abort and dad doesn't. That probably doesn't happen too much. But there should absolutely not be a forced abortion... Ever. Ever.

[beingthebest]

09:31 AM on 07/04/2011

When I had my child, my partner did not want one. I signed a paper absconding him of all obligations and rights. It was simple. We are still the best of friends, we just wanted different things at different times.

When, many years ago I had to make the very painful decision to have and abortion because of health risks at the time, my partner stood by me.

No man can force an abortion or a birth because it isn't their body that will go through the procedure. Period. Once they can carry a child, all things are back on the table.

[Martha Riddle]

01:36 AM on 07/04/2011

Perhaps...If a male feels this strongly about it, he should be fixed??

[beingthebest]

09:32 AM on 07/04/2011

Because, like, ummm, they would never be in one place now, and another 10 years from now. Are you saying a choice a 21 year old just out of school would make would be the same as the choice a 30 year old with an establish career would make?

[cam1002]

05:45 PM on 07/07/2011

Maybe he should just keep it in his pants.

[littlemonster]

09:18 PM on 07/03/2011

teapotter repubs don't have anything better to do? i guess everyone has a job, health care and a fair shot at the american dream... man, kansas sounds dreamy.

[xsdfddgf]

07:22 PM on 07/03/2011

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[Non Sibi]

12:52 AM on 07/04/2011

Flagged!

[beingthebest]

10:54 AM on 07/04/2011

Flagged again

[readmylips04]

07:20 PM on 07/03/2011

‎*****congress/government/judges should not have the right to inflict their personal opinions on the rest of the world. it's easy for others to say don't but ur not walking in that persons shoes. everyones circumstances are different.what bugs me is when sarah palin and other protesterssay no, no, no. ur entitled to ur opinion but anybody can say no but what else r u doing. r u volunteering ur money, ur time, r u adopting these children who wind up in the system. r u using ur name and status to promote adoption. the answer is no. nobody mentions that alot of kids who r given up for adoption don't get adopted. they go in and out of foster care. they wind up in trouble get arrested, on drugs, get abused physicallyand mentally etc. u can't just say no to having abortions without dealing with the whole problem.*****

[mjbarkl]

06:47 PM on 07/03/2011

If I am elected to Congress, I intend to submit a Resolution to adopt the
following U.S. Constitutional Amendment:

A woman's right to terminate her pregnancy at will shall not be infringed.

Best wishes,

--Mike Barkley, Candidate for Congress, http://www.mjbarkl.com/run.htm

[Marlyn]

10:49 PM on 07/03/2011

And I would add that it should be the man's right to terminate the pregnancy as well. How about that?

[Sha Zam]

02:58 AM on 07/04/2011

Stop trying to pass yourself off as a woman.

[beingthebest]

10:56 AM on 07/04/2011

So you believe that a man should have rights over a women's body. Aren't you just precious

[FLECKENSTEIN44]

10:51 PM on 07/03/2011

Good thing you got no chance.

[consindenial]

06:35 PM on 07/03/2011

I live in Kansas. Brownback is trying to turn the state into a theocracy by using "faith-based initiatives"...I think that the State of Kansas and the City of Topeka are actually "governed" by the Topeka Bible Church, a good fundementalist church that many of the state leaders attend. Kansas is a good example of what the United States will become if one of the Teapublicans wins the White House and they control congress again.

[DougSmith]

12:10 PM on 07/04/2011

Scary and the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves...

[calvinwing]

04:35 PM on 07/03/2011

Proving that once again, abortion is not a political issue, it is a civil rights issue that the courts have already taken a stand on. No politician will overturn Roe v. Wade. So Republicans that vote to have a pro-life president that starts wars to kill thousands should stop being hypocrites.