In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, tens of thousands of women have traveled to Kansas seeking abortions that have become banned in their home states, according to estimates by multiple research groups.
Missouri and Oklahoma banned the procedure with few exceptions, as did nearby Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
A new survey by the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling finds nearly half of Kansas voters think it’s a good thing that the state remains a regional abortion access point. Nearly 40% said it’s a bad thing, and 12% said they’re unsure.
The survey polled registered voters Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2. The sample size was 1,000 persons in each state, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3% and a 95% confidence level.
Responses reflected significant political divisions on the issue: 88% of self-identified Democrats said the state’s position as an abortion access point is a good thing, compared to only 25% of Republicans and 61% of independents.
“It’s not shocking to see the plurality of Kansans coming down on the pro-choice side of the abortion issue, but there are a significant minority of Kansans who are against abortion rights,” said Patrick Miller, an associate professor of political science at Ohio’s Kent State University who lived and taught in Kansas for a decade.
Still, Miller said the fact that a significant minority of Republicans — 25% — said the state’s status as an abortion access point is a good thing aligns with previous public opinion polling.
“This issue is not as polarized as we often think it is, especially among Republicans,” he said.
Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion lobbying group, said that the survey question did not accurately represent abortion laws in Kansas.
“It leaves out the key detail that women are no longer guaranteed informed consent here before an abortion is performed on them,” said Danielle Underwood, the organization’s director of communications, in an emailed statement.
“It is equally disappointing that respondents weren’t asked their views on whether women should be offered greater access to compassionate alternatives to abortion.”
Abortion is legal until 22 weeks of pregnancy in Kansas. The state places a number of restrictions on the procedure, including parental consent requirements for minors and special regulations for clinics that provide abortions. Several other restrictions — including the “informed consent” law that requires doctors to give patients information designed to dissuade them from having an abortion — are tied up in court.
In August 2022, nearly 60% of voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have enabled lawmakers to further restrict the procedure or ban it entirely. There was high voter turnout, particularly among young voters.
It reflects similar results in other conservative-leaning states like Kentucky and Ohio, where residents have voted in favor of abortion rights.
“(Abortion) has skyrocketed in voter interest and attention,” since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, Miller said. “It has the potential to be a persuasive issue to get people to possibly cross voter lines — especially Republican over to Democratic.”
Still, it’s unclear how much the issue will animate Kansas voters this fall. A Republican-controlled supermajority in the Kansas Legislature has pursued several laws backed by anti-abortion groups in the last two years, passing a number of them — including a law that directs more money to anti-abortion counseling centers and one that requires doctors to ask patients their reason for obtaining an abortion.
“Look at all those deeply Republican counties in the 2022 amendment vote that voted pro-choice on the amendment, but then, a couple months later in the election, voted for Derek Schmidt (for governor), who was stridently opposed to abortion rights,” Miller said.
And because abortion remains legal in Kansas, it may not be as motivating an issue as in states like Missouri, which has a strict abortion ban. Missourians will vote in November on a proposed constitutional amendment that could legalize abortion.
“Political behavior is complex,” Miller said. “If you are an anti-abortion Democrat, or if you are a pro-choice Republican, you usually come home to your party, even if your party is not a perfect reflection of all of your issues.”
In recent years, the Kansas Supreme Court has pushed back on attempts to limit abortion access in the state. In 2017, the court ruled that the Kansas Constitution affords residents a right to personal autonomy, and that autonomy includes the right to obtain an abortion.
The court upheld that ruling this summer, affirming that the laws at question — banning a common second-trimester abortion method and imposing special licensure requirements for abortion clinics — violated the Kansas Constitution.
Rose Conlon reports on health for KMUW and the Kansas News Service.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, KMUW, Kansas Public Radio and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
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