Advocates Take to the [Kansas] Capitol to Oppose Anti-Reproductive and Anti-Transgender Rights Bills

Topeka, Kan. – Today, as lawmakers considered two anti-trans bills – SB 180 and SB 2238 – advocates for reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ rights brought the fight for Kansans’ futures to the state capitol. Dozens of people from across the state participated in Kansans for Bodily Autonomy Advocacy Day, raising the alarm on these renewed attacks on abortion, gender-affirming care, and gender equity. The event was organized by ACLU of Kansas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, Trust Women, URGE Kansas, and Vote Neigh.

Advocates urged lawmakers to vote against a number of anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ bills being considered this session, including bans on gender-affirming care and telemedicine abortion. They also pressed lawmakers to support policy changes that address the steep tax on necessary goods including menstrual products and diapers. Instead of addressing the needs of Kansans, some lawmakers have prioritized implementing discriminatory school policies and expanding critical taxpayer funds for deceptive anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), none of which are licensed or regulated by the Kansas Department of Health.

Throughout the day, organizers and advocates led legislative and advocacy trainings, and meetings with elected officials to send a clear message: when reproductive rights and trans freedoms are under attack, Kansans fight back.

The coalition is tracking the following anti-reproductive and anti-trans rights bills this session:

• SB 5: seeks to ban telemedicine abortion
• SB 96: gives tax incentives to those who donate to non-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)
• SB 233: bans gender affirming care for minors, allows individuals who receive care to sue a provider
• SB 180: defines “biological sex” in terms related to the ability to procreate, and excludes transgender and intersex individuals from the ability to access sex-segregated spaces such as bathrooms, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers
• HB 2238: bans trans youth from playing school sports
• HB 2313: spreads a false narrative about abortion and stigmatize reproductive health care through a so-called “born-alive” bill
• HB 2429: creates an anti-abortion program and public awareness campaign to divert taxpayer dollars to CPCs

Emily Wales (she/her), President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes

“As Kansans demonstrated clearly last August, when politicians threaten their bodily autonomy, people will stand up for their right to make personal health care decisions. But extreme politicians in the legislature have shown time and again that they are unconcerned with the will of voters and expert standards of medical care. Their opinions, however ill-informed and spiteful, are the driving force behind bills that seek to shame and stigmatize reproductive health care and gender equity. We’ll keep fighting back like we did today to ensure they get the message: stop legislating other people’s lives, futures, and well-being.”

Rebecca Tong (she/her), Co-Executive Director, Trust Women

“At Trust Women’s Wichita clinic, our frontline health care workers continue to see the devastating impacts of cruel abortion bans on real people in our region. The displacement of thousands of people from their communities as they seek essential and safe health care is a feature of these bans, not an unintended consequence. The cruelty is the point.”

“Kansas lawmakers have an opportunity this legislative session to put forward an agenda centered on supporting hardworking Kansas families. The opportunity to prioritize empathy, compassion and expanded access to necessary health care—like abortions and gender-affirming care—health care that all major professional medical associations agree is life-saving. We urge our lawmakers to remember the voices of their constituents who resoundingly rejected the anti-abortion amendment last August: legislators have no place in our private medical decisions.”

Nigel Morton (he/him), Senior State Organizer, URGE Kansas

“In August, URGE Kansas proudly participated in organizing folks to protect abortion as a constitutional right in this state. The energy from nearly two-thirds of Kansans voting a resounding NO to last year’s ballot initiative continues to fuel us, and today, we used it to recruit young people from across the state to reiterate two things to our lawmakers: we have power and we aren’t afraid to use it to protect our bodily autonomy.”

Melissa Stiehler (she/her), Advocacy Director of Vote Neigh, a project of Loud Light Civic Action

“Last year, Kansans took to the ballot and overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive rights and bodily autonomy across the state. Some members of the Kansas Legislature responded by doubling down on their support of unpopular and unconstitutional anti-choice laws and attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community. Kansans have said enough before and will do it again. We invite members of the Kansas Legislature to respect the will of their constituents by opposing these bills and leaving private medical decisions to the people and their healthcare providers.”

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The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)4 nonprofit organization that advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. We lobby state lawmakers, mobilize more than 120,000 grassroots supporters, and engage in issue education in order to protect and expand access to health care and comprehensive sex education in the communities we serve, and to promote Planned Parenthood’s mission. Learn more at PPGPvotes.org.

Trust Women was founded in 2009 with the mission to open clinics that provide abortion care in underserved areas. The organization currently operates two reproductive health care clinics in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Trust Women provides education, advocacy and community support across the region in support of expanded access to abortion care with a focus on reproductive justice. Learn more at trustwomen.org.

URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity is a national nonprofit organization that works to build young people’s power around reproductive issues by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and people of low-income across the South, Midwest, and California.

Vote Neigh is a youth-lead campaign by Loud Light Civic Action to support Kansans in defeating anti-choice legislation. The basic rights of Kansans are under attack. We are fighting for the safety, privacy, and autonomy of all Kansans. To that we say- giddy up and Vote NEIGH on anti-choice laws!