The Kansas Legislature adjourned for the year in the wee hours of Monday morning, with two big victories in the area of pro-life healthcare. Disappointingly, however, the time clock hurt us on achieving Simon’s Law, which would insure that no “Do Not Resuscitate” order could be issued to a minor without consent of parents/guardians.
Senate Bill 436 was enacted late Sunday. It put into permanent law the “Huelskamp-Kinzer” language which gives priority to full-service public clinics and hospitals as recipients of Title X ‘reproductive-services’ money. Remaining Title X money is secondarily prioritized to private, full-service clinics and hospitals
In 2011 Planned Parenthood sued to secure over 1/3 million dollars that they claimed “belonged” to them under Title X. In March 2014 Planned Parenthood lost and Kansas won, with a ruling from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Huelskamp-Kinzer language is a model way for states to improve healthcare for the indigent, by prioritizing Title X money to comprehensive services at “safety net” clinics and public hospitals.
State Sen. Caryn Tyson (R- Parker) carried the bill and Sen. Ty Masterson (R-Andover) shepherded it to completion. The vote was 87-34 in the House and 32-8 in the Senate.
MIDWIVES’ ROLE IN ABORTION STOPPED
Kansas passed a large bill, HB 2615, with a number of sections regulating health care services and providers. The section governing the independent practice of midwives included pro-life language:
“Nothing in the independent practice of midwifery act should be construed to authorize a certified nurse-midwife engaging in the independent practice of midwifery under such act to perform, induce or prescribe drugs for an abortion.”
There was quite a bit of educating to do on this subject as some legislators just didn’t want to believe that nurse midwives– those most intimately dedicated to nurturing labor and delivery– would actually do abortions.
Yet the National Abortion Federation has long had a strategy for increasing “access to abortion” (i.e., more babies aborted) by expanding the scope of practice of lower level health care professionals.
Sen. Sen. Michael O’Donnell (R-Wichita) and Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook (R-Shawnee) were real champions on insuring the abortion ban stayed with the midwives’ regulation. The House passed the final healthcare bill 115-7, but only after Senators voted 26-12 to insure that the final version kept the pro-life language.
TIME CRUNCH HURT SIMON’s LAW
This year’s Kansas legislature was dominated by a budget crisis, and in an unprecedented move, leadership cancelled two weeks of legislative session time. This really doomed House consideration of Simon’s Law, despite heroic attempts by bill sponsor, Sen. Jacob LaTurner (R-Pittsburg), vice-chair of the Senate Federal & State Affairs committee, and Rep. Jan Pauls (R-Hutchinson), Chair of the House Federal & State Affairs committee to maneuver to get a House vote.
Simon’s Law is a vital bill to protect parental rights in preventing the unilateral issuance of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) for minors. The measure had gained tremendous public enthusiasm, and secured an amazing 37-3 bi-partisan vote in the Kansas Senate. With support of pediatric specialists across the country and four pro-life medical groups, Kansas ought to be enacting Simon’s Law next year.
Lest too rosy a picture be painted about Simon’s Law, however, it must be noted that not one Kansas medical facility or physician group officially testified about the measure—pro, con or neutral—and many well-paid medical lobbyists pushed to kill the bill out of the public eye. Apparently, the current ability to issue DNRs unilaterally is a power that too many medical entities do not want brokered by parents.
The movement to educate the public about discrimination in life-sustaining procedures has just begun and the entire nation needs Simon’s Law.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
