OLATHE, Kan. — Kansas is the first state in the nation to put the question of abortion rights directly to voters since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The final hours of the campaign are a street fight.
Working block-by-block, hundreds of canvassers, some flown in from across the country, are knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors to remind people of the stakes in Tuesday’s referendum — not just for Kansas, but for the country.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was the culmination of decades of conservative strategizing, but it was also a starter’s pistol for 50-plus battles about to be waged across the country. The fight in Kansas offers a preview of this new era, and a test of which voters are more motivated by the Supreme Court’s bombshell decision.
“This is the first of many battles that we’re going to be seeing across many states,” said Mary Owens, the communications director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who flew in from the organization’s Virginia headquarters for the final push. “The power has gone back to the people to be able to enact pro-life legislation through their elected representatives rather than judges.”
Kansas is a conservative state that former President Donald Trump handily won twice, but the question of abortion-rights is proving to be divisive and unpredictable.
On Friday, a small group of college students and recent graduates volunteering with the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America trooped up and down the streets of suburban Kansas City, where houses are more likely to display sports banners than political ones. They were stopped by a woman, who leaned out her car window to thank them and say she had already voted.
“I just believe in life, and an unborn child is a life,” Edianna Yantis said, her voice catching and her eyes welling. “To me, it’s murder to kill it.”
Others on the same block were also moved to tears — for different reasons.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years now and I see so many kids go into foster care. I see so many kids born into drug-addicted families. I see people who just can’t take care of their kids and it just wears on you,” said Heather, a nurse practitioner who declined to give her last name out of fear of reprisals at work, her voice shaking with emotion. “I mean, I’ve had 13-year-olds delivering a baby — they’re just kids. We see kids who are raped and sexually trafficked.”
“That,” she added, pointing to the anti-abortion canvassers and her neighbors’ “Vote Yes” signs, “is not the answer.”
The canvassers quickly thanked her and backed away. With just three days to go, they were focused on turnout, not persuasion.
Ben Kennedy, left, and Alyssa Winters wait at a door to speak with prospective voters about a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion, Friday, July 8, 2022, in Olathe, Kan.