Attorney General Derek Schmidt says he will ask the Kansas Supreme Court to reconsider a 2019 ruling declaring access to abortion a “fundamental right” under the state constitution. Schmidt filed a notice Tuesday that he plans to appeal an April lower-court ruling striking down a a state law banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure as unconstitutional.
Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson’s decision was the first on abortion from a lower court since the 2019 decision from the state’s highest court. The Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year put on the August 2022 primary ballot a proposed amendment to the state constitution to overturn that Supreme Court decision.