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Gov. Vetoes HB 2115 with Disingenuous Excuses
PRESS RELEASE
April 15, 2010
KFL response follows Gov. Veto message below
Here is Governor Parkinson's veto message for Senate Substitute for HB 2115
“Kansas’ current law concerning abortion was passed more than a decade ago and strikes a reasonable balance on a very difficult issue. I support the current law and believe that an annual legislative battle over the issue is not in the public’s best interest.
“My view is that all abortions are tragedies, which is why I would encourage women who have unwanted pregnancies to consult with their partners, families, doctors and spiritual advisors. I would not encourage women to consult with state legislators, as this is a private decision and should not be dictated by public officials.
“Therefore, with respect to people on both sides of the issue, pursuant to Article 2, Section 14 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas, I veto S. Sub HB 2115.”
Here is Kansans for Life's Response:
Statement by Mary Kay Culp, State Executive Director, Kansans for Life:
"We agree the law passed in 1998 is a good law. In fact, it's so good that politicians tied to the abortion industry have gone to great lengths to insure that it was never enforced. Today is yet another example of that.
"It is completely disingenuous for the Governor to say it is a good law and fail to point out that he doesn't believe in enforcing the provisions of the law. It is completely disingenous to suggest that legislators, as representatives of the people (mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, etc.) have no right to weigh in on laws that affect a for-profit industry that has complete control of young women during a secretive, crisis-driven moment that will affect the rest of their physical and emotional lives.
"The only exceptions to the Kansas ban on post-viable abortions are medical, thus abortionists should have been made to report those medical reasons. Instead they have gotten away with simply stating under the line for "reason" that they have one. This has resulted in 12 years and 3,000 post-viable abortions untethered from any kind of oversight.
"Abortion-backed politicians had better hope this veto attracts a corrupt late-term abortionist willing to continue the 12 year tradition of sharing his profits politically, because we plan to spend every last political dime and ounce of energy we have ousting from office any legislator who does not vote to override this veto.
"According to a March 31 AP report, Nebraska abortionist Leroy Carhart, who performed many of the 3,000 post-viable abortions in Kansas since 1998, said his wish to open a late-term clinic in Kansas was "in flux" because of "the rules" imposed by H.B 2115. This is especially notable coming as it did as his home state was in the process of passing a ground-breaking late-term abortion law.
Carhart did late abortions one week a month for years at George Tiller's clinic in Wichita before he was murdered last year. Carhart has been talking about opening own clinic in Kansas ever since. Parkinson's veto tells him to "come on back down" despite the fact Carhart is under investigation in NE for former employees' testimony that he did abortions while "chemically altered" and reused dirty equipment.
"If the state finally enforcing a 12 year old requirement for doctors to give a medical reason for post-viable abortions, plus giving women and their families standing to sue over illegally performed ones, would keep an abortionist away who already helped do 3,000 of them here, it speaks volumes about how unlikely it is that those 3,000 were performed legally.
"Kansas state records already show that none since the 1998 went into effect were done in response to a threat to the mother's life. Additionally, expert testimony from one of the few persons ever to see medical records from that clinic, the 25 year head of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Paul McHugh, verified that the records he saw came no where near the level of "substantial and irreversible" threats to bodily damage required before one can legally perform a post-viable abortion in Kansas. According to McHugh, the medical records often showed diagnoses of "single episode depression" (something NOT compatible with "irreversible") based on youthful fears of missing social or career life experiences.
"While we were one vote short of a veto-proof majority in the House, three pro-life legislators were gone that day. We were three votes short, however, in the senate. We will be working hard to get those votes and have already laid the groundwork with a newsletter being mailed today that anticipated this action. It is already on our website HERE.The front page deals with this issue in depth. The back page is an Action Alert.
"We will be doing more as April 28th approaches, the day legislators get back to Topeka."
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