Kansas Representative Lance Kinzer (R-KS) introduced the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights bill in the state’s House of Representatives last week requiring the consent of two parents for girls under 18 to obtain an abortion. Proponents say the two parent notification requirement would only apply in cases in which the nuclear family was intact and without abuse but experience shows that such consent laws are extremely harmful to young girls, especially victims of abuse. The change would alter current Kansas law, in which the minor needs the consent of only one parent to have an abortion.
Sarah Gillooly, the Public Affairs Manager for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, stated, “I think if the legislators were interested in reducing the number of abortions in the state of Kansas, they would stop mandating intrusion into the lives of Kansas families and start focusing on reducing the number of unintended pregnancies through affordable birth control and sex ed.”
Representative Kinzer introduced the bill following Governor Sam Brownback’s request for new abortion restrictions. In his State of the State message in mid January, Kinzer stated his goal to establish “a culture of life in Kansas.” These provisions in the bill had been passed by both chambers of the Kansas legislature over the past three years but were vetoed by then Democratic Governors Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson.
