Kansas legislators sent a bill to Gov. Sam Brownback with the strongest anti-abortion measure yet, declaring life begins at fertilization, blocking tax breaks for abortion providers, preventing Planned Parenthood and others from providing information on human sexuality in schools, and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex.
The bill also prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions: the possible health effects of abortions, including telling them that abortions can lead to breast cancer – a claim the United States government says is completely false.
The measure's provision declaring that life begins at fertilization says that "unborn children have interests in life, health and well-being that should be protected" and that their parents also have "protectable interests" in their children's well-being.
The declaration that life begins at fertilization is embodied in "personhood" measures in other states. Such measures are aimed at revising their constitutions to ban all abortions, and none have been enacted, though North Dakota voters will have one on the ballot in 2014. Thirteen states, including Missouri, have such language in their laws, according to the National Right to Life Committee.
According to pro-choice advocates, the bill sets the stage for Kansas to outlaw abortion completely.
"Should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade or should the court come to some different conclusion, the state legislature would be ready, willing and able to ban abortions," Elizabeth Nash of the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute told Reuters.
Many anti-abortion legislators see `at fertilization' statements as symbolic. But it could underpin lawsuits by prospective parents or grandparents who want to block abortions or be cited by abortion opponents in pushing law enforcement officials to scrutinize clinics, said Troy Newman, president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.
Brownback is likely to sign the bill into law. He has signed multiple anti-abortion measures into law, and the number of pregnancies terminated in the state has declined 11 percent since he took office in January 2011.
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