Voters in Kansas, in the American Midwest, voted on Tuesday (August 2) to uphold the constitutional guarantee on abortion, in the first major ballot on abortion since the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States. States, canceled the federal right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG).
Voters in this conservative central state rejected an amendment that would have removed language guaranteeing the right to abortion from the state constitution and could have paved the way for stricter regulation or a ban.
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This election was seen as a political test at the national level, many conservative states having already banned or intending to quickly ban any right to abortion. As soon as the result was announced, abortion rights advocates celebrated their camp’s victory in the highly controversial debate taking place in the United States.
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It’s a result ” outstanding “welcomed Ashley All, spokesperson for the campaign of supporters of the right to abortion. “The people of Kansas understood that this amendment would impose government control over private medical decisions”she said. “People in Kansas stood up for basic rights today”tweeted Kansas Democratic Governor Laura Kelly.
Moments after polls closed at 7 p.m. local time, Kansas election overseer Scott Schwab said turnout was at least 50%, a figure in line with expectations for this type of election. ballot.
Abortion allowed up to 22 weeks
While abortion advocates have won a clear victory in Kansas, they are watching with anxiety neighboring states Missouri and Oklahoma, which have imposed near-total bans. Missouri does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
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Other states, including California and Kentucky, are due to vote on the issue in November, coinciding with midterm congressional elections in which Republicans and Democrats hope to rally their supporters around abortion.
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The result in Kansas means that abortion will remain legal until 22 weeks of pregnancy. Parental authorization is required for minors. The vote, which coincided with the Kansas primaries, represented the first opportunity for American voters to express their views on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade.
Democrats strongly support abortion rights, while conservatives generally support at least some restrictions. But in Kansas, the political reality is more complicated: the state leans heavily on the Republican side and hasn’t voted for a Democrat in the White House since 1964, but Kansas’ most populous county elected a Democrat, Sharice Davids. , in the House of Representatives in 2018, and the governor of the state, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat. According to a 2021 poll, less than 20% of Kansas respondents agreed that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape or incest.