Kansas Abortion Bill: Governor Sam Brownback Likely To Sign Sweeping Legislation

WASHINGTON -- Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) indicated that he is likely to sign the state's sweeping anti-abortion bill, which includes a provision that would allow doctors to withhold information from patients.

Brownback, speaking to The Huffington Post Monday following the National Governors Association meeting, said that while he has not read the 69-page bill, he is likely to sign the proposal since he opposes abortion rights. Brownback, a former U.S. senator, has signed several anti-abortion bills since he took office last year.

"I am pro-life," Brownback said. "When I campaigned I said that if a pro-life bill got to my desk, I will sign it. I am not backing away from that."

The latest bill -- which is scheduled to be discussed by a legislative committee for a second time on Wednesday -- contains a number of provisions which would give the state one of the most sweeping anti-abortion laws in the nation. Among the provisions is one which would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withhold information -- in order to prevent an abortion -- that could have prevented a health problem for the mother or child. A wrongful death suit could be filed in the event of the death of the mother.

Other provisions include requiring women to hear the fetal heartbeat prior to an abortion, taking away tax credits for abortion providers and removing tax deductions for abortion-related insurance. The bill also requires that women be told that abortions would increase the risk of breast cancer, a controversial theory that the World Health Organization, the National Cancer Institute and gynecological groups in the United States and the United Kingdom have said is incorrect.

The bill has garnered opposition from legislative Democrats and at least one moderate Republican lawmaker.

Sarah Gillooly, the public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of Kansas, told The Huffington Post earlier this month that the bill was "the largest and most sweeping overhaul we've seen to date."

Brownback declined discuss the specifics of the bill, reiterating that he has not studied the text.

The bill has several more steps before reaching Brownback's desk, including consideration in the conservative Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which is expected to approve the bill, and in the moderate Republican-dominated Senate, where bill opponents are hoping for defeat.

With the moderate state Senate Republicans facing August primary challenges from more conservative Republicans, Brownback said he is likely to stay out of the primaries, even though a more conservative Senate would probably be helpful to passing his agenda. Brownback and the conservative state House have seen multiple proposals defeated by moderate GOP senators.

"What I want to do is wait until after the primary and support the party's candidates," Brownback said.

Brownback said he does not know if a more conservative Senate would be helpful to his agenda, adding that he would need to review any change in Senate policy on an issue-by-issue basis. Among the issues he said he'll look at are taxes, education spending, judicial reform, economic development and pensions -- as well as maintaining his stance on abortion-related legislation.

Among the most divisive issues between Brownback and a coalition of moderate Republicans and the state's Democratic minority is the governor's proposal to rewrite the state's tax code. Brownback has been facing fire for his initiative, which includes eliminating a slew of deductions, such as those for charitable giving. Senate Republicans have formed their own study group to formulate a tax plan.

Brownback defended the plan, which he noted is a "flat tax" and said that he is expecting it to pass. He said that it is similar to the Simpson-Bowles proposal, and that he believes it is also similar to President Obama's corporate tax proposal. According to Brownback, his tax plan would help the state's business community.

"The very notion of a flat tax is it takes out exemptions and deductions," he said.

Comments

[JimNast]

01:34 PM on 04/08/2013

Kansas.... Isn't that the state that, in the past, tried to legislate the value of pi to equal 3.0 and also outlaw the teaching of evolution in public schools? They're making Arizona look pretty good...

[Jackie Feathers]

09:55 PM on 10/21/2012

Republican politicians say they are "pro-life", but what happens once that baby is born? Pro-life turns into limited government and the mother is left with no support. This is the vote of the people who can afford family planning options already, who do not have to face the challenges of being unable to provide for a baby. These same politicians are often against free contraception options. Look at the massive Washington University study that came out of St. Louis recently and research shows free contraception will cut abortion rates by 62-78%. Seems like common sense and everybody wins. Also, research shows 70-80% of people who receive inpatient psychiatric treatment have been physically or sexually abused as children. This should be a national outcry. We estimate approximately 90% of our patients have been physically or sexually abused as children, and those are just the people who report it. Unwanted children are at high risk of being abused and antiabortion laws victimize those very children. Please think of the bearing anti-abortion laws have and consider the prevention measures that could be taken (free contraception) before abortion is an option.

[Cathar306]

04:56 AM on 03/11/2012

I also hate abortion but Instead of wasting all this time, money and energy to legislate against abortion, Why don't you really push a crusade on developing a vaccine or another means of totally protecting women against unintended pregnancies, like what we have done with polio years ago? Today we almost never hear of polio. Why not do the same thing with unintended pregnancy? When we legislate against abortion, we are only trading in one evil for a worse evil, considering how overpopulation is already stunting any kind of recovery for our economy. Think of this. If it was not for Row-Wade, we would very likely have an additional 40 million unemployed people in this country alone. Considering the world at large, we need to get our population back to 1960 level to avoid environmental meltdown.

[mycatsaysmeow]

10:03 PM on 03/08/2012

At least this Brownback guy isn't trying to hide behind the concept of this "informed consent" that most anti-abortion advocates try to pass legislation under.

[My2SenseHear]

05:33 PM on 03/07/2012

Am not

[uniqumm]

06:40 PM on 03/03/2012

Ah yes, Kansas.... that big, dark and benighted rectangle traveling from one coast to the other. The one time I did that they closed the train's bar. That was some years ago - before Amtrak, actually, but things don't change much when it's dark ages in a place, do they?

I don't know what bill does what over there, but here's a question that needs to be answered:

We're 7 billion on this planet now. That's twice the number when I was born. We can keep multiplying like rabbits forever, can't we? What happens to rabbits on a nice, temperate, grassy island in a wide sea? I think I might just possibly live to the day when that question gets an answer, but it's not an answer I want to see. I doubt you want to either.

[Cathar306]

04:41 AM on 03/11/2012

You asked about rabbits. Take a look at the lemmings.

[Gina111]

08:03 PM on 03/02/2012

Looks like John Celock, and all his gullible readers, are the ones who need to read (or re-read, or quit lying about) the bill.

For one, the bill says the woman should be TOLD SHE HAS A RIGHT to hear the heartbeat. It states explicitly that nothing in the bill should be construed to require the woman to hear the heartbeat:

http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/measures/documents/hb2598_00_0000.pdf

Just this one point proves that John Celock can not be trusted to convey the truth. I suggest you always check the primary sources that liberal journalists cite. I used to be stunned at how often these journalists brazenly lie about plain facts, but I'm used to it now.

[Sofia23]

10:29 AM on 03/09/2012

Gina111, thank you for supplying the text of the bill and confirming that it does indeed require that the doctor make the heartbeat audible to the woman if the pregnancy is at least 10 weeks from the date of the last mentrual period.

[RMR John]

06:25 AM on 03/16/2012

Can you not read Gina111? It's pretty easy to find in the text (page 13, line 33 of your link):

"(j) (1) Prior to a woman giving informed consent to having any part
of an abortion performed or induced, if the pregnancy is at least 10 weeks
from the first day of the last menstrual period, the abortion provider who
is to perform or induce the abortion, a certified technician or another
agent of the abortion provider shall, using a hand-held doppler fetal
monitor, make the embryonic or fetal heartbeat of the unborn child audible
for the pregnant woman to hear."

Speaking of brazenly lying about plain facts Gina...

[Freddy Freebe]

12:04 PM on 03/02/2012

Obama done need to campaign , he has the Republican party doing that for him. The Republican has the vote from the rich, the lobbyist, the speculators, the Koch Brothers and CPAC. But scatch the Women because they really are stepping in it now. They already lost, the gays, the unions, the poor people, the Mexicans, the black vote, most middle class and every citizens from any country. It is time for a party change because the Republican party is headed for the Hall of Shame. Never tick a women off, she will be heard.

[splashy]

07:20 AM on 03/02/2012

Forced birthers won't admit that's all they want to do - force girls and women to give birth. They aren't about life, because they don't want to do anything to promote shelter, health care, food and other support for girls and women. It's just about forcing them to give birth, no matter what.

Their sadistic hatred of girls and women is very obvious now. Any women that vote for them is signing her own prison papers.

[Corie Lemmon]

06:14 AM on 03/02/2012

"which includes a provision that would allow doctors to withhold information from patients." WHAT? THAT is our RIGHT to know OUR Information...BS...Go figure though...the republicans are just running rampant on everything they can.

[rachydee]

02:31 AM on 03/02/2012

This is what I'm wondering.
How hard would it be to start a movement to send Brownback (and Gov. Vaginal Probe and...) pictures of our vaginas? Attach a jpg to an email? Snail mail?

They are clawing and poking their way into our "specials." Let 'em see what they're getting.

[Jonathan Yelton]

01:31 AM on 03/09/2012

dumb

[piperflyer]

12:09 AM on 03/20/2012

"They are clawing and poking their way into our "specials." Let 'em see what they're getting."

Dear Rachydee, if you've seen one posse, you've seen 'em all.

[1Curious1]

12:57 AM on 03/02/2012

Hope the women of kansas rise up, as women have in other states, and tell their govn'r were he can put his bill.

[krayoncolorz]

10:10 PM on 03/01/2012

don't tread on me!!!!! but i can tread on you all i want.

[TomTheSeal]

09:28 PM on 03/01/2012

His back isn't the only thing that's brown about this governor.

[TomTheSeal]

09:26 PM on 03/01/2012

Ensconced in our governance in America is lying, deceiving, bribery, extortion, and, basically, GOTCHA !