How Kansas’ Anti-Abortion Bill Launches A Sweeping Attack On Women’s Rights

Not to be outdone by states like North Dakota and Arkansas that have recently passed record-breaking abortion restrictions, Republicans in Kansas are advancing a stringent anti-abortion bill that combines several attacks on reproductive rights into one omnibus measure.

HB 2253 is a 70-page piece of legislation that failed last session, when the Senate was more moderate — but since anti-choice state lawmakers won big victories in the 2012 election, Kansas’ abortion opponents are seizing the opportunity to push it through this year. The House approved the bill by a 92-31 vote on Wednesday afternoon, and it’s also expected to pass in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Republican leaders have promised to “violating medical privacy laws by allowing state auditors to demand access to individuals’ medical records. The bill would also target groups affiliated with abortion providers by preventing them from receiving the same tax breaks that other organizations do.

3. Requires doctors to give women biased information about the dangers of having an abortion. Under the omnibus bill, doctors would be required to provide women with disputed information about abortion risks. Of course, every patient undergoing a medical procedure should be fully educated about the risks — but these kind of “informed consent” sessions are a popular anti-choice tactic specifically designed to dissuade women from terminating a pregnancy. Doctors would need to tell women about a potential link between abortion and breast cancer, even though medical experts don’t believe there’s a connection between the two.

4. Doesn’t include exceptions for victims of rape or incest. One Kansas lawmaker attempted to amend the bill to include a exception for some of Kansas’ existing abortion laws — including the state’s late-term abortion ban, restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion, and a requirement for minors to get parental consent for abortion services — in cases of rape or incest. Women’s health advocates call such policies “common-sense, compassionate exceptions,” particularly for minors who may have become pregnant from incest and can’t get permission from a family member to terminate the pregnancy. But Republicans in the House voted it down on Tuesday, saying they weren’t interested in revisiting the details of the nearly two dozen abortion restrictions that are already on the books.

5. Restricts the use of comprehensive sex ed resources in public schools. The bill contains a clause that prohibits anyone who works for an abortion provider from also working in a school — a provision intended to specifically target Planned Parenthood and prevent the women’s health organization from providing students with any comprehensive sexual health instruction. Originally, it was so broadly worded that it would have also prevented any parent who works for an abortion provider from volunteering at their child’s school. It’s since been tweaked to specify that volunteering is okay.

Kansas’ omnibus bill is similar to a controversial package of abortion restrictions that Michigan lawmakers forced through their lame duck session at the end of last year. Women’s health advocates warn that HB 2253 represents the “biggest threat this year” to Kansas women’s access to reproductive rights.

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White House Launches Initiative To Keep Guns Out Of The Hands Of Domestic Abusers

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new gun violence prevention initiative on Wednesday aimed at addressing issues of intimate partner violence. By helping local government officials better identify high-risk offenders and their potential victims, the new Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative hopes to prevent gun-related domestic homicides:

The program will help law enforcement and social service officials identify vulnerable women who may be in potentially fatal abusive relationships and connect them with law enforcement, prosecutors, court personnel and other service providers. As part of the initiative, the Justice Department will distribute a total of $2.3 million in one-year grants to 12 counties and municipalities. [...]

The vice president noted that from 2009 to 2012, 40 percent of mass shootings — those with four or more victims killed — started with the shooter targeting his girlfriend, wife or ex-wife, according to the White House. And Biden repeated a factoid — often noted by advocates for tighter gun control such as the Mayors Against Illegal Guns — that in states that require a background check for private handgun sales, 38 percent fewer women are shot to death by their intimate partners.

“The issue of domestic violence and reducing gun violence are connected,” Biden said. “That’s why the president and I believe that every person who buys a gun — every person — should have a criminal background check.”

The announcement comes the same week that legislation to expand background checks to almost all gun purchases is beginning to advance in Congress.

A similar initiative to make sure domestic abusers can’t easily access firearms is making its way through the Colorado legislature. Local law enforcement often mishandle sexual assault cases, but more training — through local VAWA grants as well as through these new initiatives — could help start to change that.

In recent months, gun issues and domestic violence issues have become particularly intertwined — but not in the same way that Biden and Holder are approaching them. On the other side of the issue, gun advocates have attempted to construe increased access to firearms, particularly concealed carry laws on college campuses, as a “women’s issue” because they claim guns are necessary to help protect women against sexual assault. But hidden guns won’t actually do anything to help address rape culture. In fact, as Biden pointed out, those weapons typically end up being used against victims of domestic abuse themselves. Abusers who have access to a gun are more than seven times more likely to kill their partners.

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