BY: News Peddlers
In a major victory for pro-choice activists, the conservative US state of Kansas decided in a referendum to protect abortion rights.
Voters overwhelmingly opposed amending the state constitution to declare that there is no right to abortion.
It was the first election to put the issue to the test since the US Supreme Court allowed states to prohibit the practice.
If the vote had gone the other way, lawmakers in Kansas could have moved to further restrict or ban abortion.
The Kansas ballot question had been highly anticipated since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, two months ago.
According to projections, Kansans voted by more than 60% to uphold the state's constitutional right to abortion for women.
For the time being, it is only a projection, and the official result will be announced in a week.
When Roe v Wade was overturned, President Joe Biden stated that abortion rights would be a political issue for voters. What happened in Kansas has proven that theory.
The referendum result is being viewed as a landslide in a state that Republican former President Donald Trump won by a wide margin just two years ago.
For Democrats and pro-choice organizations, this is evidence that Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn abortion rights - and see the Court's decision as out of step with the public.
On November 8, the United States will hold national midterm elections, with Democrats vying to keep control of Congress.
Mr. Biden stated that the results demonstrated that "the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion."
Taylor Hirth, a voter from Overland Park, Kansas, wept as she celebrated the outcome with her nine-year-old daughter at a watch party.
"I'm a rape survivor, and the thought of my daughter becoming pregnant and me being powerless to stop it enrages me," she told the BBC.
"I never imagined this happening here, but we have worked so hard to get the vote out. Republicans misjudged us."
They are worth it. Both, a Kansas-based anti-abortion group, stated that over the last six months, "Kansans endured an onslaught of misinformation from radical left organizations" that "spread lies" about the amendment.
"This outcome is a temporary setback, and our dedicated fight to value women and babies is far from over," the organization said on Twitter.
Kansas officials reported that voter turnout was significantly higher than expected on a primary voting day when Republicans typically outnumber Democrats by a two-to-one margin.
In the month leading up to the election, a Catholic church and a statue of the Virgin Mary were defaced with red paint and a pro-choice slogan.
On the eve of the election, some Kansans received misleading text messages urging them to "vote yes" in order to protect choice, but the opposite was true - a "yes" vote would restrict access to abortion. Twilio, a technology company, announced that the anonymous sender had been removed from its platform.
Although Kansas is a staunchly conservative state, its abortion laws are less stringent than those of many other Republican-led states.
It allows pregnancies to be terminated up to 22 weeks, with other restrictions such as a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and parental consent for children.
The Great Plains state's legislature is controlled by anti-abortion Republicans, but its politically vulnerable governor, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat. She had warned that changing the state constitution would send Kansas "back into the dark ages."
Since the Supreme Court decision on June 24, more than a dozen Republican-led states have moved to ban or further restrict abortion.
However, the right to abortion is enshrined in the constitutions of ten states, including Kansas, and can only be repealed through referendums.
Other states, such as California and Vermont, are holding elections in November to strengthen abortion protections in their state constitutions.
SOURCE: BBC