Stacked Deck: Defeated Constitutional Amendment Ensures Continued Radical Pro-Abortion Bias in the Kansas Supreme Court – The Washington Standard

Topeka, KS — An amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the people of the Sunflower State to elect Supreme Court Justices went down in flames during the Primary Election held on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, due in part to heavy financial support from Planned Parenthood and the Open Society Policy Center. OSPC is an organization run by out-of-state billionaire Alex Soros, son of the infamous pro-abortion globalist George Soros.

The amendment, which was expected to draw strong Republican support, was defeated by a vote of 61 to 39 percent — a suspicious result considering preliminary election results show Republican voters outnumbered Democrats 60 to 40 percent.

The Kansas Legislature placed the amendment on the ballot after a series of decisions by the Supreme Court that artificially inserted the so-called “right” to abortion into the State Constitution and later went on to nullify most of the state’s pro-life laws.

Currently, eight out of nine Kansas Supreme Court members were appointed by Democrat governors who favored abortion. Nearly all decisions involving abortion in the past two decades have supported and expanded abortion in Kansas.

“The Kansas Supreme Court is one of the most radically leftist, if not downright corrupt, courts in the nation,” says Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Voting for justices would have given Kansans a say in the composition of the Court. Instead, we are forced to endure the current convoluted system of having potential justices picked by a panel of mostly Democrat lawyers who refer a short list to the governor for appointment. This process has led to disastrous rulings that have made Kansas an abortion destination and increased abortions here a staggering 187 percent.”

How did we get here?

This latest debacle began as far back as 2015 when the Kansas Legislature passed a law that criminalized a barbaric late-term abortion procedure called Dilation and Evacuation. This process involves the horrific dismemberment of a baby in the womb. Pro-life Republican Governor Sam Brownback proudly signed it into law.

This law was immediately challenged by a team of Kansas abortionists, Herbert Hodes and his daughter, Traci Nauser, who received an injunction blocking its enforcement.

That case worked its way through the court system, finally reaching the Kansas Supreme Court for oral arguments in March 2017, when the Court was asked to decide whether abortion was protected by the Kansas Constitution. It usually takes about six weeks for a ruling to be published, but in this case, months and then years passed, still with no opinion from the Court.

The overtly pro-abortion Supreme Court Justices seemed to be waiting for something.

That “something” came when a pro-abortion Democrat, Laura Kelly, was sworn in as Governor in January 2019. Just weeks later, the Supreme Court finally released its opinion that abortion was indeed protected by the Constitution, even though an honest reading of the text reveals no such interpretation. There is evidence that Kelly’s campaign received heavy support from highly influential pro-abortion institutions and businesses that support abortion and other leftist/globalist ideologies.

Unprecedented Kansas bloodshed

Almost at once, abortion numbers began to rise. In 2019, there were 6,916 abortions, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which gathers abortion statistics. In 2024, the last year for which numbers are available, abortions rose to an astounding 19,811, with further increases expected when 2025 numbers are finally released.

Rapidly rising abortion numbers prompted an urgent attempt to return to the original meaning of the Constitution and undo the Supreme Court’s disastrously faulty interpretation. A pro-life initiative, known as the “Value Them Both Amendment,” was proposed in early 2022 and placed on the Primary Election ballot for later that year.

However, on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving the decision up to each state whether to end abortion or keep it.

“While we rejoiced at the Dobbs decision, abortion supporters were livid. The backlash we faced in Kansas, as the first state to place abortion on the ballot, proved catastrophic. There is nothing that incentivizes the left to action more than the matter of abortion,” says Newman. “Kansas political organizations just were not ready for that.”

What should have been an easy win in a strongly pro-life state became a devastating loss, due in part to out-of-state money and volunteers from Democratic and abortion groups that flooded into Kansas in opposition to the Value Them Both Amendment. This became a national tragedy as a series of other states, encouraged by the Kansas debacle, used the initiative process to ensconce abortion in their own state constitutions.

More political shenanigans

One opinion at a time, Kansas courts began dismantling long-standing pro-life legislation. This prompted a new tactic to rein in out-of-control Supreme Court tyranny.

Earlier this year, the amendment to allow Kansans to vote on Supreme Court Justices was placed on the August 4 Primary Ballot. However, the political shenanigans were far from over.

Meanwhile, a decision on a challenge to the Kansas Right to Know Act, which provided informed consent prior to abortions, was still awaiting a ruling from Johnson County District Court Judge Christopher Jayaram nine months after an October 2025 bench trial, marking yet another judicial delay on an abortion-related case.

Then on July 13, 2026, less than a month before the Primary Election that would feature the amendment to allow citizens to vote on Supreme Court Justices, Kelly appointed Jayaram to fill a vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court.

Once again, abortion seemed to be the key reason for his choice.

On Monday, August 3 — one day before the election and moments before being sworn in as the latest Supreme Court Justice — Judge Jayaram released his 260-page ruling nullifying the Kansas Right to Know Act. He also blocked a requirement that abortion businesses provide their customers with information about the Abortion Pill Reversal Protocol. Jayaram called it a “fringe” procedure, even though it is documented to have saved the lives of thousands of children who have been born healthy after their mothers took the first part of the chemical abortion cocktail.

If this ruling had not been delayed for months and until the last possible moment, it is possible that it could have influenced more Kansans to vote in favor of the Supreme Court amendment.

“Judge Jayaram’s radical pro-abortion opinion was concealed for over nine months just so Kansans would not have time to react at the polls to this unconscionable travesty. A seat on the Kansas Supreme Court seems to have been his reward,” says Newman. “As a Kansan, I do not think I am alone in my weariness of these political manipulations that are costing innocent lives.”

Governor’s Mansion up for grabs

With Laura Kelly thankfully termed out, this November Kansans will be asked to choose a new governor.

Ty Masterson, who was enthusiastically endorsed by President Donald J. Trump, is running as the Republican nominee for Governor, winning handily in a crowded Primary field. Masterson is a long-time conservative who has risen through the ranks to serve as the State Senate President and has proudly lived up to his pro-life ideals over the years.

Opposing Masterson is another pro-abortion Democrat Cindy Holscher, who is being portrayed to the public as a moderate. Interestingly, Holscher was elected as the Democratic nominee for Governor even though one of her primary opponents was endorsed by both Laura Kelly and former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Nevertheless, it is assured that Holscher will follow their example, claiming to be moderate while continuing to advance a radical abortion agenda.

“Now, more than ever, we need to make sure that the next governor will be one hundred percent pro-life and put an end to this shameless political pandering to the Abortion Cartel that has wiped out thirty-five years of pro-life legislation,” states Newman. “We are losing 20,000 or more innocent lives to abortion every year in Kansas. That kind of bloodlust is intolerable. We cannot bring back the lost, but we can work to ensure that future children are protected by putting people in political positions of power where they can end the disastrous abortion policies of the left — not just in Kansas, but across the nation. This November, the ballot box matters, and we urge pro-life supporters to make sure they vote only for candidates that are pro-life.”

This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Cheryl Sullenger, is Operation Rescue Sr. Vice President Emeritus.