Omnibus Abortion Restriction Bill Heard in Kansas House Fed and State Committee

Overland Park, KS—Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri sharply denounced HB 2253, heard today in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.

HB 2253, the Omnibus Abortion Restriction bill, is a 70-page sweeping overhaul of the state’s abortion restriction statutes. Among many provisions, the bill:

• creates additional government regulations of and intrusion into the doctor-patients relationship;
• requires physicians to provide medically inaccurate misinformation to women;
• prohibits Planned Parenthood from providing human sexuality education services and materials to school districts;
• bans doctors and nurses from volunteering at their child’s school in any capacity;
• effectively creates at least 12 new income and property taxes for Kansas families, many of which remain unclear; and
• creates a tax penalty on Planned Parenthood and other charitable organizations.

Over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is preventive – providing life-saving cancer screenings, affordable birth control, prevention and treatment of STDs, breast health services, pap tests, sexual health education, information and health counseling. Planned Parenthood believes it is important for women’s health to be continuously improved based on scientific advancements. Doctors – not politicians– should decide what information and care is best for a patient’s circumstances. Politicians should not attempt to legislate medicine by interfering in personal, private medical decisions that should be left to a woman, her family, her faith and her doctor.

“The ongoing efforts to chip away at access to reproductive health care hurt Kansas women and families and go against the grain of core Kansas values. HB 2253 is poorly written, bad public policy mandating further government intrusion into the private decisions of Kansas families. Women don’t turn to politicians for advice about mammograms, prenatal care or cancer treatments. Politicians should not be involved in a woman’s personal medical decisions about her pregnancy,” said Peter Brownlie, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

Planned Parenthood criticized not only the reemergence of HB 2253, which was also introduced last year, but also the misplaced priorities of Governor Brownback and the legislature demonstrated by the extraordinary amount of legislative time and taxpayer dollars spent on the issue of abortion.

“Kansans expect our legislators to address financing the future of our public education system and the budget and unemployment crises – not legislate medicine. Kansans expect those legislators who promised ‘no new taxes’ to keep their word – not raise sales and income taxes for thousands of women and families. Kansans expect our elected officials to stop putting politics before women’s health,” concluded Brownlie.

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