KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One year ago in August 2022, Kansas voters were the first in the country to weigh in on how the state should respond to the June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States.
This week, a year after Kansas' vote, Ohio voters produced a similar outcome and by similar margins on a similar topic.
"Everything that happened in Ohio resonates in a unique way in Kansas right now," Emily Wales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains told KSHB 41 Thursday about Ohio's vote this week.
While it was not a referendum containing language on abortion rights, it was clear to Ohio constituents if Issue 1 were to pass this week, the future of abortion rights in the state would be uncertain.
Issue 1 asked voters whether a supermajority of 60% should be required for future constitutional amendments to pass. With an abortion constitutional amendment set for Ohio's November ballot, Ohioans on both sides of Issue 1 heavily campaigned with a focus on abortion.
Last summer, after months of intense campaigning across the state, Kansans showed up at the polls in overwhelming numbers on Aug. 2, 2022. And the results weren't close; 59% voted against giving the legislature a chance overthrow the Kansas Supreme Court's 2019 decision that certified abortion a right in the state.
This week, Ohio voters made their answer clear as well: no. And the results were similar to those seen in Kansas: decisive. 57% of voters in Ohio voted to keep the status quo of a simple majority, while 43% voted in favor of Issue 1.
“When you go to voters and say, ‘Do you want to get real medical care? Do you want your healthcare to be private between you and your physician?’ And people every time say, ‘Yes, I don't want politics to play a part in my health care or in the health care of the people I love and know.’ At the same time, what played out in Ohio is something that we're thinking about a lot in Kansas. They didn't hide on the opposition side – in Ohio – that this was about limiting voters' direct participation in democracy," Wales said.
Fragmented is one word to describe the Midwest in the aftermath of the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
The region sees varying abortion rights from state line to state line; some states have complete bans (Missouri, South Dakota and North Dakota), most have restrictions (Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio) and few offer complete access to abortions (Minnesota and Illinois).
Determined — whether it's to ban abortions or enshrine rights to one — is another word to describe the 12 states that make up what some consider the "Heart of America."
Missouri, South Dakota and North Dakota completely banned abortions immediately with trigger bans after the Dobbs decision, but Kansas left the decision up to its fired-up constituents. Ohio is set to do the same in November.
In three months Ohio voters will decide whether or not residents have the right to make their own reproductive health decisions.
The amendment's language makes clear — if passed — the state can not interfere with a person's right to bodily autonomy concerning reproductive rights, or a person or entity's right to assist a person exercising those rights.
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