Roe v. Wade
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Abortion rights advocates celebrated Tuesday as the Midwestern US state of Kansas voted to maintain the right to the procedure, the first major poll on the flashpoint issue since the Supreme Court overturned nationwide access in June.
Kansans rejected an amendment that would have scrapped language in the state constitution guaranteeing the right to the procedure and could have paved the way for stricter regulations or a ban.
The vote was widely seen as a test case for abortion rights nationwide, as Republican-dominated legislatures rush to impose strict bans on the procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Results showed that votes in favor of keeping abortion in the state constitution far surpassed the votes against. This reflects the fact that a majority of Americans support abortion access, multiple studies have shown.
When polls closed at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT), Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab said turnout was as high as 50 percent on this referendum, local media reported, a number usually expected for a general election.
Poll worker Marsha Barrett said some 250 voters had come to a station in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe by noon—the same number it might see all day in a presidential election.
“This election is crazy,” Barrett told AFP. “People are determined to vote.”
Other states including California and Kentucky are set to vote on the hot-button issue in November, at the same time as Congressional midterm elections in which both Republicans and Democrats hope to use it to mobilize their supporters nationwide.
In Kansas, the ballot centered on a 2019 ruling by the state’s supreme court that guarantees access to abortion.
In response, the Republican-dominated state…
Source : france24
