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Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, conservative states like Kansas drew up amendments to solidify the ruling and impose more severe restrictions on abortion. But when Kansas voters rejected their state’s amendment by nearly 20 percentage points, many were wondering why more Republican voters didn’t turn out to support the measure. Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues the result in Kansas could portend an unusual result in the coming November midterms:
Some are calling the recent vote in Kansas to preserve abortion rights a shock in the very red — dark red — state of Kansas. I don’t believe it’s very shocking. And I’m going to tell you why.
So to step back a little bit. Once the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, we knew it was going to be open season at the state level to much more aggressively, forcefully and definitively and completely ban abortion.
Now, there was one problem with that, which is the American people. Just your average American in terms of the population across the entire country is more in favor of abortion being legal today than at any point during the Roe v. Wade era. You go back 50 years now is when the American people are most in favor of abortion.
And so if the will of the people were done, were reflected in our laws, abortion would be legal in most cases — that’s what the people want…doesn’t mean you put anything to a vote…that’s not the issue. But the point is, the decision is very much out of step with the popular opinion in the United States.
But we knew they were going to start pushing at the state level for all sorts of abortion bans. And in Kansas, what was on the ballot in early August was an amendment to the Kansas constitution that would allow the complete and total banning of all abortions period. That amendment failed by 20 points, 20 points in the very red state of Kansas.
This tells us a number of things. Number one, it confirms the polling — extensive polling — that Americans are a pretty pro-abortion bunch — not as much as in some other countries, sure, but Americans are a relatively pro-abortion bunch. It doesn’t mean they all want abortions, or would wish abortions upon their family members, it just means they think it should be legal for the people affected to have it as an available procedure or treatment, depending on their conversations with their own doctors. That’s all that it means — doesn’t mean anyone has to go and get an abortion.
