Kansas GOP lawmakers fail in anti-abortion amendment effort

Republican lawmakers in Kansas have failed to get a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot.

The vote Friday in the Kansas House stalls efforts to ensure that the state's Bill of Rights does not secure a right to an abortion.

The vote was 80-43, leaving supporters four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure. But neither side expected it to be the last word on whether the proposed amendment ultimately is put to a vote in a statewide election.

Abortion opponents will likely try again. Lawmakers are in session until early May.

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Kansas legislators considering a proposed amendment to the state constitution on abortion are raising the spectre of women being forced back into using unsafe and unclean “back alley” clinics if their measure does not pass.

But in a twist, anti-abortion lawmakers were making the argument Thursday as the House gave first-round approval to the proposed amendment.

The measure would overturn a Kansas Supreme Court decision last year protecting abortion rights.

Amendment supporters have appropriated language often used by abortion rights backers to fight proposed abortion restrictions.

Anti-abortion groups argue that if legislators cannot enact restrictions, clinics will return to being unsafe.

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