News & Commentary

A U.S. District Court in Texas has granted a motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas, Missouri and Idaho following their claims about a commonly used abortion medication.

Civil rights advocates argued in court this week that drivers’ licenses should not lead to “forced outing,” leaving a district judge to decide how a divisive law will impact the day-to-day lives of transgender Kansans.

Six months after a judge blocked transgender Kansans from changing the gender marker on their driver's licenses, the issue is back in Shawnee County District Court for a longer-lasting order.

At the Shawnee County District Court hearing, Kobach, the Kansas Department of Revenue, and the ACLU of Kansas argued over whether KDOR should be blocked from allowing gender marker changes while the lawsuit against SB 180 continues.

D.C. Heigert, an attorney at the ACLU of Kansas, said a ban on gender-affirming care would prove especially damaging as the trans community in Kansas is already suffering from the effects of restrictions passed last year.

Earlier this past summer, in the ACLU of Kansas’ report about the historical and social significance of the Quindaro settlement, we talked about the aspirational Kansas we fear too many residents here have forgotten.

Due to an excessively long waitlist, Kansas inmates who await mental health treatment and evaluations could spend more time in state-run facilities than in prison if convicted.

“In general, jails are not meant to be hospitals,” Sharon Brett said. “They are not meant to be places where individuals go to receive comprehensive medical and mental health care services. And we shouldn’t be relying on that as such. It is putting a Band-Aid over a bullet hole, essentially.”

The Kansas Highway Patrol is appealing a federal injunction that will block its troopers from using the “two step” traffic stop tactic that a judge ruled had resulted in the agency violating the constitutional rights of motorists.