{"id":774830,"date":"2022-08-13T14:10:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=776e4bce769de4481c519476c66089a3"},"modified":"2022-08-13T14:10:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:10:43","slug":"the-lessons-of-the-kansas-primary-go-far-beyond-abortion-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/08\/13\/the-lessons-of-the-kansas-primary-go-far-beyond-abortion-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lessons of the Kansas Primary Go Far Beyond Abortion Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 1922, the newspaper editor William Allen White wrote, \u201cWhen anything is going to happen in this country, it happens first in Kansas.\u201d On August 2, voters in Kansas proved him right, going to the polls for the first referendum on abortion since the fall of Roe v. Wade<\/em>. The result was an emphatic rejection<\/a> of a state constitutional amendment that would have allowed state legislators to severely restrict access to abortion or ban the procedure outright. Pollsters were left scrambling as people across the country expressed surprise: How could this have happened in a state like Kansas?<\/p>\n A few things about the Kansas vote stand out. First, the polls, which reported higher support<\/a> for the anti-abortion amendment, were simply wrong in predicting that it would pass in the majority-red state. Second, turnout was historically high<\/a> for a primary, with over 900,000 Kansans voting, rivaling numbers seen only in the state\u2019s general elections. The reason for this is clear: A majority of Kansas voters were energized to act in response to the brazen and authoritarian nature of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization<\/em> ruling. Third, the voters that rejected the amendment were politically and geographically diverse<\/a>, refuting commonly held and wrong-headed assumptions about the priorities of ordinary Kansans. Democrats and Republicans alike came out in support of the right to abortion, as well as a significant number<\/a> of Independents; they voted not just in big cities like Kansas City and Wichita, but in poorer, rural and traditionally Republican counties, including 14 that went for Donald Trump<\/a> in 2020. Finally, organizers<\/a> built a powerful and expansive coalition that was able to reach into nearly every pocket of the state, not limiting the outreach to any one demographic of people and engaging women\u2019s rights activists, doctors, faith leaders, and more. <\/p>\n The vote in Kansas is a desperately welcome rejoinder to the reactionary majority that has been smuggled into the Supreme Court over the past few decades. It is also a vital reminder that beneath the too-often superficial and media-friendly narratives we are fed about our politically divided country, there is a sea of people willing to stand together on abortion and much more. That this happened in middle America is especially resonant, as Kansan writer Sarah Smarsh keenly observed<\/a>. \u201cIn a state where registered Republicans far outnumber Democrats, the results reveal that conservative politicians bent on controlling women and pregnant people with draconian abortion bans are out of step with their electorates, a majority of whom are capable of nuance<\/a> often concealed by our two-party system,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not news to many red-state moderates and progressives, who live with excruciating awareness of the gulf between their decent communities and the far-right extremists gerrymandering, voter-suppressing and dark-moneying their way into state and local office.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, what Kansas has to teach us goes far beyond abortion. Just as a majority of Americans<\/a> think abortion should be legal, people across party and region favor policies that expand rights and access to the essential building blocks of a dignified life. For example, in recent years, 72 percent of Americans<\/a> have said they prefer a government-run health care plan, and more than 70 percent support raising the minimum wage, including 62 percent of Republicans<\/a>. This is also true in Kansas, where 78 percent of residents<\/a> support expanding Medicaid despite the state government’s refusal to do so. This and related issues are of especially grave concern in a state where 34 percent of people are poor or low-income<\/a>, with hundreds of thousands more hovering above the buckling ground of economic precarity.<\/p>\n