Kansas Abortion Bill To Ban Procedure By State Workers Passes House

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has said that he will sign a sweeping 69-page anti-abortion bill.

The day after a Kansas legislative committee adopted an amendment to protect accreditation of the OBGYN residency program at the University of Kansas Medical Center, the full state House adopted an amendment which could put the program back in jeopardy.

The full House of Representatives adopted an amendment to the state budget Friday evening that would prohibit state money from being used on abortions and would ban state workers from performing abortions during the workday. Opponents say the amendment will jeopardize the accreditation of KU's OBGYN residency program, where residents receive training to provide abortions.

On Thursday, a House committee meanwhile passed an amendment to the state's sweeping anti-abortion bill meant to allow for the abortion training to continue at KU. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires OBGYN programs to provide abortion training.

"Kansas citizens do not want (abortions)," state Rep. Joe Patton (R-Topeka) told HuffPost about why he sponsored the amendment.

Patton said that he does not know if the ban would actually threaten the accreditation of the residency program, noting that KU officials have declined two invitations to testify before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, which is considering the anti-abortion bill.

In 1998, Kansas lawmakers prohibited abortions from being performed on state property. A KU Medical Center spokeswoman told HuffPost earlier this month that no abortions are performed at KU, which is considered state property. Under state law, the medical center's doctors and nurses are employed by private foundations, but the residents are considered state employees. Patton said he believes the medical center has been skirting state law to provide abortion services.

"The public policy should be that a state agency should not be involved in this practice. Since 1998, they have thumbed their noses at public policy in Kansas," he said Saturday morning.

Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka), who is leading opposition to the anti-abortion bill, said that legislators have been meeting with KU officials privately to craft a procedure to protect the residency program. He said the amendment adopted by the committee Thursday would exempt KU residents from the worker ban and allow the training to continue. He said the amendment did include a one-year sunset clause, which would give legislators the opportunity to review the residency program annually. The amendment and full bill were passed by the committee on Thursday.

"I don't get it; it seems reckless to me," Gatewood told HuffPost about the budget amendment.

The anti-abortion bill includes a provision that permits doctors to withhold from a mother any information that could possibly cause her to seek an abortion; it also prevents a medical malpractice suit from being filed should the woman and child subsequently have health issues, but does allow a wrongful death suit to be filed in the event of the mother's death. The bill also includes the end of a series of tax deductions relating to abortion. Opponents have said that bill will also impose a sales tax on abortions in the state, including those sought by rape victims. The committee on Thursday removed language that required a woman to listen to the fetal heartbeat, but have kept language that requires doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer.

Earlier this week, the New Hampshire House of Representatives also adopted a bill that would instruct doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer. The theory that abortion causes breast cancer has been rebuked by the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who have all said the research is faulty.

Gatewood said state Senate leaders have signaled they will likely not consider the anti-abortion bill, saying that it is too late in the legislative session to take up such a complex bill. The House had used a parliamentary maneuver when adopting the bill in committee to attempt to expedite Senate consideration. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has told HuffPost that he will sign the bill.

The Kansas Senate is controlled by a more moderate Republican faction, which has been at odds with the more conservative governor and House. Patton is currently challenging moderate Republican Sen. Vicki Schmidt in the August primary.

The full budget is likely to be adopted by the House on Monday, where legislative rules would prohibit an attempt to remove the abortion language, according to Gatewood. The budget is subject to legislative negotiations before being sent to Brownback. It has not been determined if the abortion amendment will remain in the final bill.

Patton said he remains committed to seeing the adoption of the abortion ban, saying that if the medical center leaders will not speak publicly on the bill, they are trying to promote abortion.

"This should not be discussed in the closet, but out in the open," Patton said.

Comments

[chaifreak]

12:13 PM on 03/22/2012

I just emailed the AMA requesting them to comment on requiring physicians to lie to patients. I encourage everyone to do the same.
https://extapps.ama-assn.org/contactus/contactusMain.do

[philszed]

04:15 AM on 05/09/2012

Done. Thank you. Share it.

[lilipilicious]

02:08 PM on 03/20/2012

let's face it, this is about sex. Make it really hard for women to consider having sex by making contraceptives unavailable (and thus unaffordable) via their health insurance and by making abortion a humiliating experience, right down to legislating lying as a perfectly normal practice by a physician who SUSPECTS the patient might want to get an abortion. They didnt even want to pay for HPV vaccines that could prevent cervical cancer and you know why? Because in the eyes and mind of the misogynist Right, there should be a cost to having sex for pleasure: the cost being babies you dont want (so you think about it twice), a lot of money out of pocket for contraceptives and even cervical cancer.

The best and most effective way to control a woman is to control her sexuality. That is why, Kansas or Kabul, the number one thing extremists do is go after women in society.

[lilipilicious]

01:55 PM on 03/20/2012

So let me get this straight. insurance companies covering a man's manhood so that he can sustain erectiosn to have sex is perfectly valid and ought to be covered by insurance companies and it is no one's business, but a woman, who needs contraceptives is humiliated, shamed and violated down to explaining the details of her sex life and rate of intercourse and need for pills to her boss? And republicans dont see a problem in that at all? Women are cornered: no abortion, no contraceptives. This is control. They might not have a law that says "we we will control a woman'" but they might as well because that is exactly what those things do. It is amazing, there is really no difference between the GOP and the taliban here. Two sides of the same coin.

[me the z]

11:26 AM on 03/20/2012

"The anti-abortion bill includes a provision that permits doctors to withhold from a mother any information that could possibly cause her to seek an abortion; it also prevents a medical malpractice suit from being filed should the woman and child subsequently have health issues. . ."

I'll have to spend more time reading the entire bill, but if this is as broadly true as it is stated here, a Doctor could even not tell a woman that she is pregnant if he looks at her and decides that she "looks" like she might be somebody who would consider having an abortion. The second part is absolutely just as disgusting. A doctor can make a choice not to give a patient pertinent and crucial medical information and not be held responsible for doing so.

I am all too often reminded how embarrassing it is to be a Kansan.

[lilipilicious]

01:57 PM on 03/20/2012

i see the market for home pregnancy tests booming unless they ban those too..but i get your point. You cant even trsut your own Dr basically.

[Honey Bucket]

11:08 AM on 05/17/2012

The real question is who in Kansas is voting for the GOP and allowing them to attack women on their rights. Oh, i forgot we don't have rights anymore. The GOP had decided to solve the unemployment problem by banning women from working outside of the home. Divorce is also outlawed. If they ban all woman from working, the unemployed men would all have jobs and we stepford wives will be home hand washing the families laundry before hanging it out on the clothesline.

[Patricia Russell]

02:16 PM on 03/19/2012

"The public policy should be that a state agency should not be involved in this practice. Since 1998, they have thumbed their noses at public policy in Kansas," he said Saturday morning."

good for them--keep up the good work!

[nazztea]

12:56 PM on 03/19/2012

A story that, sadly, we will see more of in the future thanks to these Republican laws.

Aaron Hatcher, Special Needs Student, Allegedly Died From Teacher's Forced Neck Brace
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/aaron-hatcher-special-nee_n_1324433.html

[Dawn Devins]

12:40 PM on 03/19/2012

Have the people of Kansas lost their minds?

A law that will revoke accreditation of their state university medical school? A law that will allow a doctor to lie to patients, without fear of malpractice suits, if the doctor thinks giving information to the woman may cause her to consider terminating the pregnancy? A law that requires the doctor to lie about a causal link between terminating a pregnancy and breast cancer?

When are the old men in office going to realize that we live in the 21st century and that women have constitutional rights?

[ashlif]

03:19 PM on 03/19/2012

As a woman who lives in Kansas, I'd like to say that many of us find this apalling, terrifying, and frankly, embarrassing.

[Dawn Devins]

04:19 PM on 03/19/2012

Please remember those feelings when it's time to vote! Women need to stand together more than ever to stop this ridiculous assault against our rights!

[me the z]

11:37 AM on 03/20/2012

Being a Kansan frequently embarrasses me.

[joefrom de]

11:41 AM on 03/19/2012

For all the Republican women out there who are indifferent to the fact that Republican politicians both on the state and federal levels are trying to steal your basic rights that many have worked so hard for, so that you are in a level playing field with men, please, please think about what your vote with enable. You may not like our current President or any other Democrat for that matter, but a vote for almost any Republican will be a vote against your own best interests and women in general. If you are from The Michelle Bachman view of a woman (I am the tail and my husband is the head) then please gather the courage to defy your husband and vote to put down once and for all this attempt by men to insult, dehumanize, and discredit over 1/2 the population.
My wife will appreciate your help.

[Salleyanne]

11:13 AM on 03/19/2012

When will women be "required" to get pregnant for the state? Don't think it won't happen. It did in Germany.

"Kansas citizens do not want (abortions)," state Rep. Joe Patton (R-Topeka) told HuffPost about why he sponsored the amendment. Sorry Joe. Not all the citizens of Kansas agree with this unconstitutional invasion of rights.

The right has lost their freakin minds. Can't wait for the discrimination and wrongful death lawsuits to start. Let's see how these "representatives of the people" like not having jobs next election.

[nazztea]

12:58 PM on 03/19/2012

Try running as a fiscal conservative when a law you supported cost the state a pot of money to defend.

[me the z]

11:46 AM on 03/20/2012

That sentence stuck out to me as well. What an absurd thing to say.

I hope you're right about that final sentence.

[nazztea]

10:48 AM on 03/19/2012

State Bans on Insurance Coverage of Abortion Are Sweeping the Nation, Endangering Women’s Health and Taking Health Benefits Away from Women
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/state-bans-insurance-coverage-abortion-are-sweeping-nation-endangering-women%E2%80%99s-health-and-t

What big cajones they have to do this in an election year.

[kathy smelser]

06:41 AM on 03/19/2012

they should take away all FEDERAL dollars from any state that breaks Federal Laws ...look at all the money that could be saved .....LETS ADD IT UP

[Salleyanne]

11:14 AM on 03/19/2012

I agree. Any state that wants to try and trump a legal federal law should lose all federal money. Let's see how that flies.

[nazztea]

12:59 PM on 03/19/2012

Texas Loses Entire Women's Health Program Over Planned Parenthood Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/texas-loses-entire-womens_n_1349431.html

Texas will now spend state funds that they allegedly don't have to defend their policy.

[kathy smelser]

07:15 AM on 03/20/2012

very good

[me the z]

12:10 PM on 03/20/2012

That's the right stand for the federal government to take, but it doesn't actually help the women.

[therondor]

04:37 AM on 03/19/2012

what if the woman has an etopic pregnancy does the law allow for her to be saved or does the facility or resident have to watch her die.santorum already said he would not allow abortions for medical reasons as this would negate the effectivness of an antiabortion law seem they should worry about the gang problems and try to solve the murders of already born persons , not to mention the number of times that the right have blocked partial birth abortion bans, thats right they would rather allow the murder of full term partialy born children than lose that leverage point seems to me if saving lives where actualy important to them thay would have helped pass this law not stopped it.

[kathy smelser]

06:44 AM on 03/19/2012

just think ...if they continue this then a lot of woman will just not become pregnant then there will be less un born to worry about

[Salleyanne]

11:15 AM on 03/19/2012

You do know Kathy that they want to ban birth control too? How will that keep someone from "not becoming pregnant"?

[Lombard1006]

01:55 AM on 03/19/2012

The right is losing their minds. They see the future and it is not pretty so to get the votes they will stop at nothing to keep their followers engaged. Subjugate women because if we can get back

[Lymon]

01:40 AM on 03/19/2012

Why can't every legislator in the country worry about their own business and stay out of women's healthcare issues? I certainly don't want women trying to run mine or those of other men.

[Lymon]

01:38 AM on 03/19/2012

"Kansas citizens do not want (abortions)," state Rep. Joe Patton says. What he MEANT to say is that "some" kansas citizens do not want abortions. Obviously some do or it wouldn't be an issue. Those who don't want them might refrain from having one, but then again I'm not certain since they are from kansas.

kansas is becoming more and more backward by the day!