(TOPEKA, Kan.) — The Kansas House has given first-round approval to a 70 page bill designed to keep the state from subsidizing abortions even indirectly through tax breaks.
Friday's vote on House Substitute for Senate Bill 313 advances the measure to final action, expected Monday. The House has a strong anti-abortion majority, so the measure is likely to pass and go to the Senate.
The bill would prohibit Kansas taxpayers from including abortion expenses among personal deductions for medical care. Other provisions would block tax breaks for abortion providers.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri criticized the omnibus abortion bill.
“Kansans expect our legislators to address school financing, the Governor’s Medicaid overhaul, redistricting, and the budget and unemployment crisis – 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,” said Peter Brownlie, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
