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KS Paid Outside Firms to Defend Anti-Abortion Laws

The Associated Press reported on Monday that the Kansas attorney general’s office spent over $644,000 last year on private legal counsel to defend three major anti-choice and anti-abortion laws enacted by the state.

Approximately $200,000 was used to pay the firm Thompson, Ramsdell & Qualseth of Lawrence to defend two restrictive state laws attacking abortion care. Another $328,000 was paid to the Wichita based firm Foulson Siefken to defend the state’s defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Thompson, Ramsdell & Qualseth was paid over $116,000 to work on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. As reported in the Feminist Daily Newswire, the lawsuit targeted Kansas House Bill 2075, which limits private insurance coverage for abortion. HB 2075 bars insurance companies from offering coverage for abortions in general health plans, with an exception if a woman’s life is at risk. The ACLU argued that the law discriminates on the basis of gender, in that men can buy a comprehensive insurance plan that covers all health needs, while women need to purchase a separate policy to cover all of their medical needs.

Associated Press 6/11/2012; Feminist Newswire 4/12/2012

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