Kansas voted "No" on changing its state constitution to allow an abortion ban.
It was the first electoral test of the issue since the US Supreme Court allowed states to ban the procedure. If the ballot had gone the other way, lawmakers could have moved to further restrict or ban abortion in Kansas. The ballot question in Kansas had been hotly anticipated since the US Supreme Court two months ago overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationwide.
This was polled this with a slim margin for "Yes" on removing abortion rights, a study cited in an NBC News segment that described it as a "bellwether" for abortion. This was a ridiculous and cynical bit of reporting because Kansas is not a bellwether for anything: it's a deep-red state that hasn't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate1 since the 1930s. Some of us in media just love the idea of an abortion ban flowing from an extremely close vote, as this harmonizes with the shopworn story of an optimally-divided, anxious and fucked-up country trending by a hair into chaos and suffering.
On the day, though, abortion rights won by about 60%—in a state that Trump won by 20 points. Good luck with your "How the Kansas vote shows us that Americans are closely divided on abortion" columns, arseholes!
1. Correction: Senate, not Congress.
