Finally, Abortion Rights Advocates Score a Huge Legal Victory in Kansas

In its ruling, the court said that language in the Kansas constitution on individual rights protects “natural right of personal autonomy,” including the right to “control one’s own body” independent of the U.S. Constitution, the AP reported.

“This right allows a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life—decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy,” the court’s majority opinion read.

The 2015 law, Senate Bill 95, prohibited dilation and evacuation abortions —a procedure used in 95 percent of second-trimester abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. More specifically, the law barred the use of forceps or similar instruments on a “live” fetus to remove it from the “womb” in pieces, describing the procedure by the anti-abortion propaganda term “dismemberment abortion,” according to the AP.

The wire service reported that Kansas’ law was the first of its kind in the country and had been drafted by the National Right to Life Committee, although, per the Eagle, a court injunction meant the law hadn’t gone into effect.

The decision could have broad impact, allowing state courts to strike down abortion restrictions upheld by federal courts. However, the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life previously promised to amend the state’s constitution should the Supreme Court ruling not go their way, the Eagle reported.

If abortion rights opponents in the Republican-controlled legislature approved such an amendment, it would go to a statewide vote, and would be shielded from a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat and supporter of abortion rights.