FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2013
Contact
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. – Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, condemned Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) for being the latest governor to sign a sweeping anti-choice bill into law.
The “kitchen sink” bill includes a “personhood” provision, which if allowed to go into effect, would effectively bans abortion in Kansas in almost all cases. Even worse, it would ban many common forms of contraception, stem-cell research and in-vitro fertilization. The law also narrows the exceptions under which a woman can legally obtain abortion care at any point in pregnancy– even if the pregnancy results in grave danger to the woman’s health. Finally, the law includes biased-counseling provisions which politicizes what doctors say to their patients in the privacy of their offices, and blocks medical professionals who work at facilities that provide abortion care from teaching sex education in schools.
“As politicians in states continue to race to the bottom by blocking women from accessing legally protected medical care, Gov. Brownback just reached a new low,” Hogue said. “Brownback’s signature indicates his disdain for women, by making it clear that he think politicians know better than they do about their families and their lives. This governor and his fellow anti-choice politicians in the state house have shown how out of step they are with modern American values–most Americans believe women know best how to run their lives and their families.”
This law was enacted almost four years after health-care professional and abortion provider, Dr. Tiller, was gunned down by an anti-choice extremist in his own church.
Hogue continued, “This is why elections matter. Brownback, along with 35 other governors, are up for re-election in 2014. We will do all we can to remind women across this country of these relentless attempts to take away their constitutional rights.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
###