“What’s the matter with Kansas?”
Apparently not as much as we may have thought.
When Thomas Frank published his book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” in 2004, the Sunflower State was used as an example of how Republicans used so-called cultural issues to get working class people to vote against their own economic interests. Kansas is the home of Westboro Baptist Church of “God hates fags” fame as well as the state notorious for being one of those where an abortion doctor was murdered.
There are few states with redder voting records. Kansas hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932 and hasn’t gone for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964.
So it was a massive shock when nearly 60 percent of Kansas voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the state to remove access to abortion in the wave of the repeal of Roe v Wade.
There are a handful of states where it is nearly impossible to imagine Democrats winning on anything. Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Mississippi … and Kansas.
It’s tempting to be sarcastic and say this could never have happened if Bob Dole were alive, but Dole was actually a reasonable guy. The really impressive part of all this is that Republicans being Republicans, the initiative was ppresented in a misleading way.
A “yes” vote was not to protect abortion rights, as you might expect. A “yes” vote was to allow the legislature to pass restrictions on abortion access.
The “no’s” won.
It’s actually a more complex issue than people on either side want to admit.
Even what would seem to be obvious isn’t. Does life begin at conception?
Well, believers in a major religion say no. In Judaism, life begins when a baby takes its first breath outside the womb.
This issue can never be settled in a way satisfactory to both sides, and unless we’re going to have a Handmaid’s Tale type of society, the only effective way to reduce abortion is to reduce the need for it.
More than 20 years ago, I was covering a forum for Republican candidates in Southern California. I was talking with workers for Gary Bauer, a strongly anti-abortion candidate, and suggesting a compromise solution.
Remember, compromises don’t have winners or losers. Everyone gets something and no one gets everything.
I suggested that many women who have abortions probably aren’t thrilled with the idea. So if there were incentives for them to go through the pregnancy and give birth, the number of abortions could be reduced significantly.
— First, increase sex education and availability to birth control to reduce unwanted pregnancies.
— Second, provide access to prenatal medical care and nutrition.
— Third, provide job security and necessary sick leave leading up to birth.
— Fourth, make it easier to give up babies for adoption.
— Fifth, women who want to keep their babies should get postnatal care for both mother and baby.
— Sixth, provide job security and maternal leave as needed.
— Seventh, provide inexpensive day care for mothers going back to work.
— Eighth, an attitudinal change. Honor and celebrate women who go through pregnancy and give birth.
— Ninth, abortion on demand would be legal during the first trimester, no questions asked. After the first trimester, there could be restrictions for reasons other than medical.
Several of the Bauer workers, who considered themselves strongly pro-life, said they thought my compromise was one of the most reasonable they had ever heard.
Why mention this now?
Because it’s obvious from what happened in Kansas this week that this issue isn’t going away. Neither side is going to “win” the abortion issue.
So folks in the middle and reasonable people on both sides ought to start looking for answers.
Otherwise, on this issue and other ones, we might as well kiss America goodbye.