For Critics, Kan. Abortion Law’s Form Also Matters
Two Kansas doctors who have filed a lawsuit against a sweeping new state abortion law are attacking its form as well as its substance, hoping their objection to how lawmakers enacted the statute dooms it quickly.
But an anti-abortion leader sees the move as “desperate.”
Dr. Herbert Hodes and his daughter, Dr. Traci Nauser, who perform abortions at their health center in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, have asked a judge to strike down the entire law before their lawsuit goes to trial in Shawnee County District Court. In a filing late last month, they argued that the bill approved by legislators and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback contained more than one subject.
The Kansas Constitution declares that most legislative bills must contain only one subject. The new law bans sex-selection abortions, blocks tax breaks for providers and prohibits them from furnishing instructors or materials for public schools’ sexuality courses. The new restrictions affect providers’ websites and spell out what information patients must receive before their pregnancies are terminated.
Attorneys for Hodes and Nauser contend those provisions are far-ranging enough to qualify as multiple subjects. They also note that the bill also contains a section aimed at improving services for parents of children with Down syndrome or other conditions diagnosed during or after pregnancy.