Kansas voters protect abortion accesson August 3, 2022 at 5:07 am

Kansas voters have chosen to uphold abortion rights in the first electoral test of the deeply polarising issue since the US Supreme Court allowed states to ban the procedure outright.

Voters overwhelmingly said they did not wish to amend the state constitution to assert there is no right to abortion.

If the ballot had gone the other way, lawmakers could have moved to further restrict or ban abortion in the state.

Michigan, Arizona, Missouri and Washington also held elections.

Senate races that could determine which party controls the upper chamber of Congress next year and two of the nation’s most hotly fought races for governor were on the ballot on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s elections were also a test of former President Donald Trump’s influence in the Republican party as he hints of a possible third run for the White House in 2024.

The vote in Kansas was the first statewide electoral test of abortion rights since the US Supreme Court two months ago overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationwide.

The result will be seen as a potential barometer of the issue’s resonance ahead of nationwide mid-term elections on 8 November when Democrats are fighting to retain control of Congress.

One voter, 35-year-old Helen Moyen, from Ottawa, Kansas, told the BBC she was voting to ensure her young daughter would have the right in future to end any unwanted pregnancy.

“I am religious. I believe in everything God does, but I also believe in the right to vote and autonomy over my body,” she said.

Kansas officials said voter turnout across the state was significantly higher than expected on a primary voting day when Republicans usually outnumber Democrats by two to one.

Although Kansas is deeply conservative, its abortion regulations are less strict than many other Republican-led states.

It allows pregnancies to be terminated up to 22 weeks with other restrictions, including a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and mandatory parental consent for children.

The legislature of the Great Plains state is controlled by Republicans, but its politically vulnerable governor, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat, who favours abortion rights.