Abortion Friendly in the Heartland
Summary of the Kansas State Supreme Court Whitepaper
For a PDF copy of the full Kansas Whitepaper, please click here
The Kansas Supreme Court is fairly liberal, demonstrating judicial activism on various controversial issues. The Court often makes decisions with liberal results because it is willing to strike down legislation and create rights.
Life Issues
Abortion
In Kansas, abortion is legal until viability, late term abortions are prohibited except to save the life of or severe injury to the mother, and abortionists are required to send fetal tissue from patients under 14 to the Kansas bureau of investigating abortion. After viability, abortion is only legal if a woman’s life is in danger or if the child is severely deformed. Kansas statutes also require informed consent and parental consent for the minor.
In Alpha Med. Clinic v. Andersen, and State ex rel. Stephan v. Harder, the Court emphasized that although it is willing to permit disclosure of non-confidential information about abortions, confidential information requires more careful consideration.
Protection of the Unborn from Criminal Violence
Kansas legislature recently passed a statute protecting children from criminal violence, but the Court is less protective of the unborn. The Court held that a fetus, even a viable one, is not a human being for the purposes of criminal liability, neither is the fetus a “person” according to the state’s wrongful death statute. The Kansas Supreme Court has also recognized a cause of action for wrongful birth, and wrongful pregnancy, but no cause of action for wrongful conception.
Assisted Suicide
Assisted suicide is a crime in Kansas; however the Court has not discussed the issue.
Healthcare Rights of Conscience
Kansas law provides rights of conscience protection in the context of abortions to persons who refuse to participate in abortion related procedures. There is however no statute or caselaw that protects pharmacists’ rights of conscience. Kansas Supreme Court has yet to rule on any healthcare rights of conscience statutes.
Cloning and Destructive Embryo Research
The Kansas Supreme Court has not addressed the issue of human cloning or destructive embryo research.
Judicial Restraint
According to the written regulations, Kansas has conventional principles of interpretation, including the presumptive constitutionality of a statute. The Court’s application however, has often ignored the written regulations in furtherance of liberal social policy.
The Court
The Kansas Supreme Court is composed of seven judges; one chief justice and six associate justices. The judges are governor-appointed from a nominating commission for one-year terms, with six-year subsequent re-election terms. The Kansas State Supreme Court White Paper contains a chart explaining how justices are appointed and retained, and a table of biographical information for each current member of the Court.
For a PDF copy of the full Kansas Whitepaper, please click here