In what is being billed as the first test of the Supreme Court’s recent Dobb decision returning the issue of abortion to the states, Kansas voters will go to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of the Value Them Both Amendment.
Three years after the Sunflower State’s Supreme Court decision saying that Kansans had a constitutional right to an abortion, Value Them Both would say there is no such constitutional right to abortion or any requirement for the government to fund abortions. It would also make clear that the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, have the right to pass laws to regulate abortion — in effect, codifying Dobbs at the state level.
With mail-in ballots in and remaining voters trekking to the polls, financial disclosure forms indicate that there is tremendous out-of-state interest in defeating the controversial measure.
According to the latest reports, Kansans for Constitutional Reform (KCF), the group leading the charge for a “No” vote, has raised $6.54 million, or 71% of its resources, from out of state.
In contrast, the Value Them Both campaign has raised roughly $6 million — with less than 1% coming from out of state.
Just under half of the KCF’s funding comes from abortion lobbying organizations ($1,467,222 or 22%) and liberal SuperPACs ($1,500,000 or 23%). Value Them Both backers privately fear that in the final two weeks of the campaign, the Sixteen Thirty — described in the Atlantic as “the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money,” which funnels “untraceable money to progressive causes” — will weigh in strongly for the “No” forces.
For their part, the Value Them Both team counts on its volunteers and their enthusiasm to be the winning edge in a campaign considered too close to call.
“We’ve seen incredible enthusiasm building among pro-life voters since early spring,” Danielle Underwood, communications director for Value Them Both, told Newsmax. “This is the first campaign many of our over 1,200 volunteers have ever joined, and they’ve shown up faithfully and full of energy.
"With their help, our grassroots outreach has extended to all 105 counties in Kansas, including some communities that have never been knocked [contacted] by a campaign before.”