This is a breaking news story, and it will be updated as necessary.
The same day he was sworn in as Kansas’ newest supreme court justice, a Johnson County judge issued a ruling that several abortion restrictions are unconstitutional.
Included among the restrictions permanently struck down by the ruling include:
- state-mandated disclosures that abortion providers must give patients at least 24 hours in advance of an abortion,
- a separate 30-minute waiting period that must occur before an abortion is performed,
- a requirement that abortion providers must tell patients that the effects of the abortion pill can be “reversed,”
- and a requirement that abortion providers ask patients for their “most important reason” for getting an abortion, as well as other questions, including about their financial status and experience with domestic violence.
The ruling was electronically filed on Monday, the same day Christopher Jayaram was officially sworn in as a new Kansas Supreme Court justice at the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka. The opinion was published on Tuesday.
Jayaram’s 261-page ruling also came out on Election Day, when Kansas voters were casting ballots on a much-discussed constitutional amendment that aims to change the process for how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected.
Opponents to that amendment see it as an attempt by conservatives to change the composition of the court to eventually effect more favorable rulings on hot-button issues like abortion and education funding. Supporters of the amendment have cast it as a way to put power over the state’s highest court more directly back in voters’ hands.
Some of rules struck down this week, notably the abortion pill “reversal” rule and the requirement abortion providers ask patients their reason for getting an abortion, were approved by the Kansas Legislature in the four years since Kansas voters rejected an amendment that would have affirmed that the state constitution contained no right to abortion.
Some other restrictions are more long-standing, dating back to 1997.
In his ruling, Jayaram wrote the restrictions violate multiple sections of the Kansas Bill of Rights, including those protecting bodily autonomy and free speech, as well as the section providing for equal protection under the law.
“In light of these specific fundamental rights and given the evidence adduced at trial, Kansas law sets a high bar for the Legislative branch to justify such regulatory mandates,” Jayaram wrote.
He noted he applied the “strict scrutiny” standard for the case, the most stringent standard for legal review.
“The State Defendants simply failed in their obligation to clear that high bar to justify such intrusive legislative mandates. It is not, in this Court’s view, even a close call, based upon the record before the Court,” Jayaram wrote.
Most of the provisions had already not been in effect for years, after Jayaram issued an order temporarily blocking them in October 2023.
The Center for Reproductive Rights represented the plaintiffs in the case, including the Overland Park-based Center for Women’s Health.
“Today’s ruling allows me to do my job the way I was trained to and focus on what’s most important: my patients,” said Traci Lynn Nauser, an OB-GYN at the Overland Park clinic and a lead plaintiff in the case, in a statement provided by Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Nauser noted she has been physician for more than 30 years.
“These laws have interfered with my ability to provide high-quality, evidence-based health care. I have been forced to lie to my patients and delay, or even deny, people care for no medical reason. This is not how health care should work. My patients deserve timely care based on facts, and I am grateful to be able to offer that,” Nauser said.
The Planned Parenthood release connected this week’s ruling to the statewide vote four years ago, upholding a right to abortion in Kansas.
“This ruling reaffirms what Kansans have made clear time and again: the Kansas Constitution protects the fundamental right to make personal decisions about pregnancy and abortion without political interference, said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “We welcome the court’s decision to uphold these protections and permanently safeguard the constitutional rights to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom.”
Leading anti-abortion advocacy group Kansans for Life did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Tuesday that the group sent an email to supporters decrying the ruling and drew a line to the Aug. 4 on the supreme court constitutional amendment.
“On the eve of today’s vote on judicial reform, the latest nominee produced by Kansas’ rigged justice selection process struck another blow against women and preborn children,” Kansans for Life said in its email.
“For those who have remained on the sidelines, this ruling could not make the stakes any clearer. The current system is controlled by abortion zealots. For the sake of countless lives, there is still time to make a difference. The choice could not be clearer: YES is the pro-life vote!”
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office, along with conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, represented the state’s case.
