Updated at 11 a.m. ET
The Kansas Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The landmark ruling now stands as the law of the land in Kansas with no path for an appeal. Because it turns on the state’s Constitution, abortion would remain legal in Kansas even if the Roe v. Wade case that established a national right to abortion is ever reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The decision turbocharged efforts among conservative legislators to ask voters to add an abortion ban to the Kansas Constitution. Lawmakers return to the capital, Topeka, next week.
The decision, in which one of the seven justices dissented, cites in its first sentence the first section of the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights: “All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The decision continues: “We are now asked: ‘Is this declaration of rights more than an idealized aspiration? And, if so, do the substantive rights include a […]
How sad the US Constitution does not have the same provision…“All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The replacement of “the pursuit of happiness” in the constitution by rights associated with property was not an an arbitrary decision by our founding fathers; it is a shame we live with to this day that the “minority of the opulent” (in James Madison’s phrase) still rule.