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Rashane Hamby, director of Policy and Research at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, presented opposing testimony at the Feb. 27 Senate hearing. “HB 2062 represents a backdoor assault on women's reproductive rights,” Hamby said.

A coalition of six advocacy groups, including the ACLU of Kansas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes and Loud Light Civic Action, issued a joint statement last month warning that the law threatens Kansans’ constitutional rights.

"This is a deliberate move to ignore the expressly stated will of the people despite the damaging consequences of these bills,” Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told me this week. “In their defiance of the clearly established right to reproductive healthcare in the our state constitution, these extremist lawmakers remain out of step with the everyday Kansans they serve.”

“It sets a dangerous precedent, subtly weaving the notion of fetal personhood into the fabric of law,” Rashane Hamby, director of policy and research for the ACLU of Kansas, said in written testimony.

Republican legislators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would require Kansas abortion providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and then report the answers to the state.

The bill’s narrow definition of “elective abortion,” which would exclude considerations of mental health for the pregnant woman, exemplified attempts to curtail women’s autonomy, reproductive freedoms and civil liberties, said Rashane Hamby, director of policy and research at ACLU of Kansas.

“When we’re talking about something like autonomy and dignity and privacy those are pretty expansive rights and government intrusion on those rights should have a high level of scrutiny to ensure there is not a deep government invasion into the personal decisions that we have,” said Sharon Brett.

“They put this amendment on the primary ballot and that was absolutely a direct attempt to suppress voters,” Butsch said. “We ran into a lot of misinformation, particularly for independents.”

“Terminal infants would be ripped from their parents’ arms and forced through painful, medically unnecessary procedures that would only prolong their suffering,” said Aileen Berquist, policy director for the ACLU of Kansas, in written testimony.