The abortion debate is back on the main stage at the Statehouse.
It is an election year, after all. And top lawmakers and interest groups aren't slow to point to the politics of it all.
"It's about sticking it to people who aren't pro-life," complained Rep. Nancy Kirk, D-Topeka.
"Beating our heads against the wall --- that's a good phrase to use. That's what we're doing," said Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia.
The issue at hand certainly has a history. And the political arguments are the same --- that abortion clinics are politically protected and that abortion opponents are simply trying to restrict access to the procedure.
Twice the Legislature has passed bills that would put the state's abortion clinics under state regulations. Twice --- in 2003 and 2005 --- Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed them.
Sebelius criticized the proposals because they would have applied only to abortion clinics. Such regulations should apply across the board at other clinics that conduct office-based surgeries, she argued.
The governor also said regulations should be drawn up by medical professionals, not politicians.
So Kirk, an ally of the governor, proposed legislation that would direct the health department to draft regulations for all surgical procedures occurring outside hospitals. Already, those offices avoid the level of governmental oversight seen at hospitals, nursing homes and ambulatory surgical clinics.
Kirk estimates the measure would have affected 250 to 300 clinics.
But the Kansas Medical Society didn't like it, noting the State Board of Healing Arts --- which regulates physicians --- already had adopted safety and cleanliness standards.
The bill was given a $2 million price tag. Other health organizations opposed it. Even Sebelius worried about the cost.
And abortion opponents didn't like it.
They said there is no health crisis at other clinics while just last year, a Kansas City, Kan., abortion clinic was shut down because of its conditions. Abortion opponents have complained the Board of Healing Arts didn't move fast enough.
So at a meeting last week of the House Health and Human Services Committee, lawmakers gutted Kirk's bill and installed the same abortion clinic-only regulation bill that has been vetoed twice by Sebelius. The new version now sits on the House floor, ready for debate.
Politics, politics, said Peter Brownlie, president of Overland Park-based Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
"It simply imposes unnecessary burdens on providers and makes it more difficult for women to get care," he said. "Everyone expects it to be vetoed."
Kirk said abortion opponents wanted one more opportunity to vote on the issue. Kirk said she has supported abortion rights throughout her 12-year tenure in the House.
"How many more times do I have to have that on record? It's never affected my re-election," she said.
Abortion opponents, meanwhile, argue Kirk's bill had no teeth and was designed to cover up support for abortion doctors.
"It's totally a political creature," said Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life.
And as they expect another gubernatorial veto, they admit they want to see how the governor will defend herself.
"What will be her excuse?" Mast asked. "I still see this as unfinished business, I guess."
Sebelius hasn't said whether she would veto the legislation if it passes both chambers.
"I look at every piece of legislation when it comes," she said.
But she continues to stress the need for "across-the-board standards" that gain the blessing from the medical community --- "as opposed to some kind of political ballgame that won't get us very far down the road."
Chris Moon can be reached
at (785) 233-7470 or
chris.moon@cjonline.com.
Please see CLINIC, Page 6A
Continued from Page 1A
Clinic: 'It's totally a political creature'
By Chris Moon