Kansas governor vetoes measures to aid anti-abortion centers, limit health officials' power
CTV
Kansas' Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.
Kansas' Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.
The two measures were part of a wave of conservative policies passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures this year, including ones in Kansas rolling back transgender rights and establishing new restrictions on abortion providers. But Gov. Laura Kelly's two vetoes will stand because lawmakers have adjourned for the year, barring any attempt at overriding them.
The anti-abortion measure would have granted up to US$10 million a year in new state income tax credits to donors to the more than 50 centers across the state that provide free counseling, classes, supplies and other services to pregnant people and new parents to discourage abortions. Lawmakers included it in a wide-ranging tax bill that also included an expansion of existing tax credits for adoption expenses and purchases from businesses that employ disabled workers. Kelly vetoed the entire bill.
Republican lawmakers pursued anti-abortion measures this year despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights. Abortion opponents argued that the vote didn't preclude "reasonable" restrictions and other measures, while Democrats argued that GOP legislators were breaking faith with voters.
Kelly supports abortion rights and narrowly won reelection last year. Last month she vetoed US$2 million in the next state budget for direct aid to the centers, but the Legislature overrode that action.
In her latest veto message, Kelly didn't point to any individual provision in the tax bill but said bundling so many proposals together made it "impossible to sort out the bad from the good."
In vetoing direct aid to anti-abortion centers last month, Kelly called them "largely unregulated" and said, "This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies."
