Kansas Abortion Clinic Regulation Bill Vetoed by Governor

By Liz Townsend

   The pro-abortion governor of Kansas vetoed an abortion clinic regulation bill that would have required inspections by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and reporting of injuries and deaths. Although it easily passed the Women’s Health Protection Act March 31, the state House was unable to garner the two-thirds vote needed to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’s veto.

   The House’s 82–42 vote on April 28 meant there was no override attempt in the Senate. The Senate had originally approved the bill by a veto-proof margin of 27–12.

   “It is inexcusable and indefensible for the governor to have vetoed the bill,” Kansans for Life (KFL) Executive Director Mary Kay Culp told NRL News. “We’re just trying to protect women from the legal back-alley abortion clinics in Kansas.”

   Currently, the only state regulation of abortion clinics comes from the Board of Healing Arts, which according to Culp happens very rarely and very reluctantly after a number of complaints. Even then it can only suspend or revoke a doctor’s personal medical license. “This bill would have required the Kansans Department of Health and Environment [KDHE] to do proactive inspections,” said Culp.

  State guidelines have no power in law and only suggest that deaths and injuries that occur in abortion clinics be reported within 72 days. The vetoed bill would have required deaths to be reported within 24 hours and injuries within 10 days.

   Other provisions of the bill mandated KDHE to set minimum standards for clinic personnel, procedures, and cleanliness, as well as requiring trained surgeons and surgical assistants as staff members.

   According to Culp, KFL complained to state authorities for over a year about the Kansas City clinic of physician Krishna Rajanna, whose license to practice was eventually suspended indefinitely. The clinic was closed only because he didn’t have another doctor in the wings to take over. “It took until the day of the Senate vote on the clinic regulation bill for the board to suspend his medical license, and they are now negotiating with his lawyer to reinstate it so he can work at the Veteran’s Hospital,” Culp said.

   “The Board of Healing Arts has taken not months but years to take care of the problems at one clinic,” said pro-life Rep. Peggy Mast (R-Emporia), according to the Wichita Eagle. “Abortion in Kansas has come down to the level of care in a Third World country.”

   A previous clinic regulation bill was vetoed by Gov. Sebelius in 2003, the Associated Press reported. Sebelius issued a statement April 15 when she vetoed the Women’s Health Protection Act, claiming that the legislature should have included all medical clinics in the bill. “Once again in 2005, the Legislature has chosen pure politics over good policy, has rejected uniform standards for all procedures, and has instead chosen to regulate only one procedure—abortion,” Sebelius stated.

   The failure to override the veto greatly concerned pro-lifers, who fear that the weak regulations currently in place are not enough to protect the lives of Kansas women.