Kansas advances fetal rights measures that critics warn will pave a path for outlawing abortions

(AP) — A new Kansas law outlines policies backed by abortion opponents that critics see as moves toward giving embryos and fetuses the same rights as the women carrying them.

The Kansas Legislature’s Republican supermajorities on Thursday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill to require that child support payments cover embryos and fetuses and to grant an income tax break for a pregnancy or stillbirth.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion activists across the country are pushing measures to enshrine the rights of fetuses, with the ultimate goal of ending abortion nationwide. Lawmakers pitching the proposals describe them as support for new parents or vulnerable families.

“This bill is about being compassionate to pregnant women,” Kansas Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries said Thursday.

Pregnancy Justice, which advocates for pregnant people, found that as of last year, at least 17 states had laws on the books giving fetuses the rights of people in criminal or civil law. Also, in most states, including Florida and Kansas, a person can face criminal charges for causing the death of a fetus, other than through an abortion.

Georgia and Utah offer income tax breaks for fetuses, and Kansas will soon allow parents to claim an extra dependent child tax deduction on their personal income taxes for the year a child is born and a deduction for a stillbirth.

Also like Georgia, Kansas will start a divorced or single parent’s obligation to pay child support “from the date of conception.” Its new law takes effect July 1.

“It really is common sense, to provide support for women,” said Republican state Sen. Kellie Warren, a supporter of the Kansas measure.

Critics see the Kansas proposal as part of an effort to move from allowing states to ban abortion — as the U.S. Supreme Court did in its 2022 Dobbs decision — to outlawing abortion across the nation as a violation of a fetus’ or embryo’s constitutional rights.