URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity Applauds Defeat of Anti-Abortion Constitutional Amendment
(Wichita, KS) – On Tuesday, Kansas voters decisively rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have stripped away abortion protections and allowed state lawmakers to eliminate access to critical reproductive healthcare. URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, a national youth-led Reproductive Justice organization with a vital community activist network, has been organizing youth in Kansas in the fight to protect abortion access in the state. As an executive committee member of Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, URGE co-led the fight against the ballot measure, helping build a broad and diverse coalition of organizations and stakeholders to drive voter turnout and mobilize young people.
“Today, Kansans bluntly rejected anti-abortion politicians’ attempts at creating a reproductive police state in Kansas,” Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director at URGE said. “We are proud of our young people and organizers’ efforts on the ground to get out the vote under a banner of shared values and a rejection of extremism. This dishonest and devastating measure has been defeated by people power, and that’s how we’re going to regain abortion access in this country. As we celebrate this win, there is so much work to be done to protect bodily autonomy across the country. We will continue to elevate young people’s needs, priorities, and concerns until they are fully and finally addressed. Today’s vote was a powerful rebuke and a promise of the mounting resistance. Let the anti-abortion politicians know: the injustices and indignities they impose on us will not stand. Not in the nation young people are building.”
The latest polling from URGE shows young people across the country overwhelmingly support abortion access and believe it should be defended. URGE’s Kansas team will continue to work with community partners to hold state legislators accountable. At the same time, the organization will continue to fight for federal abortion protections and access.
“This is a major victory not just for Kansans but for people across the region whose abortion access had already been severely limited or stripped away completely by their home state,” said Nigel Morton, Senior Kansas State Organizer at URGE. “Abortion access is under siege all over the nation, and we are relieved to know that Kansans will continue to be able to access essential reproductive care. This victory was not guaranteed. We were able to assemble a diverse and determined coalition under the banner of shared values and a rejection of extreme anti-abortion policies that harm families and communities. While there is a hard road ahead, we know these are fights we can win. As long as extremists continue to try to strip people’s bodily autonomy away, we will continue to defend reproductive justice.”
To arrange an interview with Kimberly Inez McGuire or Nigel Morton, please email the media contacts above.
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URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity envisions a liberated world where we can live with justice, love freely, express our gender and sexuality, and define and create families of our choosing. To achieve our vision of liberation, URGE builds power and sustains a young people’s movement for reproductive justice by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and people of low income. As a state-driven national organization, URGE organizes our communities, provides a political home for young people, advocates for meaningful policy change, and shifts culture, working in states where the challenges and opportunities are greatest.
