If the Kansas Legislature passed a law ordering all doctors to tell women considering abortion that, “abortion is a sin,” it’s likely that Gov. Sam Brownback would sign it.
New laws going into effect next month do require doctors to inform those women that they’re ending the life of a “whole, separate, unique, living human being,” whose life begins “at fertilization.”
Kansas Attorney Gen. Derek Schmidt warned legislators that laws passed this year will lead to expensive lawsuits. One of those suits was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court by Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Overland Park.
The clinic’s director, Dr. Orrin Moore, contends in the lawsuit that the law violates doctors’ free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. The suit notes the law requires doctors to make “a misleading statement of philosophical and/or religious belief.” Also, the lawsuit challenges a requirement that abortion patients receive information that a fetus can feel pain by the 20th week following fertilization.
Troy Newman, president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, claims pro-choice doctors are “trying to keep information from the women.” But the law isn’t limited to factual information. The new law requires doctors to provide information that addresses breast cancer as a potential risk of abortion. That isn’t true, according to a consensus of doctors who debated the question years ago at the National Cancer Institute.
Earlier this year, Schmidt anticipated lawsuits over new laws will cost Kansas millions in lawsuits. These include a law that declares the federal government has no power to regulate firearms, ammunition and accessories manufactured, sold and kept only in Kansas, and makes it a felony for a federal agent to attempt to regulate such items. There’s also the law that will require drug testing for some public assistance recipients, and the law that prohibits public employee unions from automatically deducting money from members’ paychecks to finance political activities.
Gov. Brownback wants to create a “culture of life” in Kansas, protecting the unborn at all costs. Maybe there should be a law that everyone must be warned: After you’re born, you’re on your own.