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Kansas voters reject proposal to limit abortion

By primenewsghana
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The conservative US state of Kansas has decided in a referendum to protect abortion rights - in a major victory for pro-choice groups.

Voters overwhelmingly said they did not wish to amend the state constitution to assert there is no right to abortion.

It was the first electoral test of the issue since the US Supreme Court allowed states to ban the procedure.

READ ALSO: Lagos suspends new safe abortion guidelines

If the ballot had gone the other way, lawmakers could have moved to further restrict or ban abortion in the state.

READ ALSO: Roe v Wade: Abortion clinics start to close after Supreme Court ruling

The ballot question in Kansas had been hotly anticipated since the US Supreme Court two months ago overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationwide.

Projections suggest Kansans voted by more than 60% to uphold the state's constitutional right for women to access abortion.

The result will be seen as a gauge of the issue's resonance ahead of nationwide mid-term elections on 8 November, with Democrats fighting to retain control of Congress.


US President Joe Biden said the result showed "the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion".

One voter, Taylor Hirth, wept as she celebrated the result with her nine-year-old daughter at a watch party in Overland Park, Kansas.

"I'm a rape survivor, and the thought of my daughter ever becoming pregnant and not being able to do anything about it angers me," she told the BBC.

"I never thought this would happen here, but we have worked so hard here to get the vote out. Republicans underestimated us."

BBC