Abortion battle divides Kansas

Kansas has avoided becoming the first state in the US without an abortion provider by granting an abortion provider a licence to continue performing abortions under new regulations being challenged in federal court.

The new rules from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment tell abortion providers what drugs and equipment they must have on hand, how big some of their rooms must be and the specific temperatures allowed in procedure and recovery rooms.

The department is imposing them under a new licensing law that takes effect today.

The licensing law is part of an unprecedented surge of anti-abortion legislation that has advanced through Republican-controlled legislatures in many states.

Collectively, the measures create an array of new obstacles – legal, financial and psychological – for women seeking abortions and doctors performing them.

Kansas has three abortion providers, all in the Kansas City area. Two of them have not obtained licences and can not legally perform abortions until a federal court intervenes.

A hearing in a federal lawsuit involving the other providers besides Planned Parenthood was scheduled for today in Kansas City.

Supporters believe the rules and the licensing law will protect patients. Abortion-rights advocates see them as deliberately burdensome and did not trust the licensing process because Governor Sam Brownback is an anti-abortion Republican and abortion opponents pushed the law through the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Some abortion opponents anticipated the possibility of an “abortion-free” Kansas. Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, reacted to the possibility that Planned Parenthood would fail to get a license with: “Praise Jesus”.