Kansas conservatives vote to condemn New York's abortion law
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The conservatives who dominate the Kansas Legislature voted Wednesday to tell New York's leaders just how much they hate the Empire State's new law expanding abortion rights, ignoring Democrats who called the endeavor a toothless waste of time and money.
The Kansas House voted 85-38 on Wednesday to approve the resolution, which declares that the New York law offends Kansas' and the nation's values and incites "abuse and violence toward women and their unborn children." The state Senate approved the measure on a 27-13 vote on Valentine's Day.
The votes reflect long-standing Republican and anti-abortion majorities that have given Kansas some of the nation's toughest abortion restrictions.
"We need to stand up for the unborn babies in every state and nation," state Rep. Barbara Wasinger, a western Kansas Republican, said after likening abortion to the Holocaust.
Some Kansas Democrats said their colleagues should focus on their own state's business. State Rep. Brett Parker, a Kansas City-area Democrat, rejected his legislative salary of $88.66 for Tuesday, when the House debated the resolution at length, tweeting a photo of a check to the state with "Wasted Day" in the memo line.
States, including Kansas, regularly send resolutions to Congress decrying federal policies or urging action, only to see them largely ignored. But criticism of other states is less common.
Criticism of other states' laws sometimes spills over into formal action. A handful of liberal states have restricted travel by government employees to states with laws viewed as discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals. Kansas is on a list of nine states targeted by California.
Kansas' resolution does not threaten any action against New York. It is also non-binding and would go to New Yorkers without going to Kansas' Democratic...