Kansas Constitution Protects Right to Abortion, Court Says (1)

The Kansas Constitution protects a woman’s right to make decisions about her body, including the decision to terminate a pregnancy, the state’s highest court said.

Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the Kansas Supreme Court said April 26. That language wasn’t merely “an idealized aspiration,” but a declaration of substantive rights that includes the right of personal autonomy, it said.

That right allows a woman—as well as a man—to make her own decisions about her body, health, family formation, and family life, the court said. The ...