Kansas’ Value Them Both amendment (VTB) is a case study in subterfuge by abortion activists in the pro-life political establishment.
Value Them Both claims to amend Kansas’ state constitution to “not require government funding of abortion“ and ”not create or secure a right to abortion.” Simultaneously, VTB will amend the Kansas state constitution to include “Regulation of abortion” under which it gives authority to the legislature to “pass laws regarding abortion.”
Value Them Both: But Not Limited To
This is where reading over laws with a fine tooth comb is important. The writers of the amendment try to pull a fast one:
To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, laws that account for circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother.
Did you catch it? Let’s pull it out: “…may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, laws that account for…“
They want you to see “may pass laws regarding abortion, including…these things which are rare and you’ll totally be okay with accepting if it saves a bunch of babies.”
The wording is intended to make it more palatable to people who pretend they are pro-life to help them sleep at night, but are still okay with killing the babies of rapists.
What they don’t want you to see are four words tucked in the middle: but not limited to.
Should Value Them Both pass, these four words will give the state legislature power to pass practically any law regarding abortion, including FULL and UNIMPEDED ACCESS TO ABORTION. It’s a blank check.
It’s irrelevant what the commercials say. It’s irrelevant what their Facebook messages say. It’s irrelevant what your friend who works with their campaign says. What matters are the words in the law. It’s even irrelevant the law denies a “right to abortion.” At the end of the day, the legislature can allow as much baby murder as their bought and paid for hearts desire.
Channeling their inner Clinton
This is the expressed purpose of those promoting the VTB Amendment. “The Value Them Both goal is clear,” said Kim Borchers, Kansas RNC Committee Woman, “We believe in reasonable limits placed on the abortion industry.” Her comments were made in a speech at the 2022 March for Life. These comments (and more) can be heard in a video (38:40) published on Abortion Is Murder Kansas’ (AIMKS) Facebook page.
The goal of the “pro-life” establishment seems to be: “Safe, legal, and rare.” If that sounds familiar, it should. That was the mantra coined by the Clintons in the 1990’s and adopted by pro-abortion Democrats until the Democrats swerved so far left, even suggesting “rare” was was offensive to the abortion hungry leftists. Of course, since abortion has been accepted, never has it been rare. The “rare” was meant as a way to quell the discontent of the now extinct pro-life democrats and on the fence neocons.
“Safe, Legal, and Rare” never has been, nor can it ever be a legitimate pro-life position.
The overwhelming number of people who hold this position which have been allowed to assume positions of power in the pro-life movement should draw anger and fury. As we, and many before us warned, these bad laws which provided political cover to bad politicians are now what is keeping abortion alive in many states.
Laws like Value Them Both which regulate baby murder codify abortion in state constitutions. The naivety of the pro-life movement in matters of law and politics is costing lives, not saving them. Injustice in the name of pragmatism isn’t ending abortion. We’ve been played like a fiddle under the flawed argument of “saving some lives” when we could save all of them.
In regards to the injustice of Value Them Both, Pastor Josh Eaton of AIMKS argues this point eloquently:
(VTB) promotes unequal justice and is therefore committing the sin of partiality (James 2:8)…When it comes to justice it does not matter if our motives are noble. Every law created to “regulate” what God says to abolish is another brick in the wall that hinders abolishing it…Proverbs 20:10 says, “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” It does not say, “unequal measures are an abomination only if your motives are wrong.” Evil is evil even if you mean well.
According to the 14th Amendment, all people should be given equal protection under the law. Yet, here we see VTB proudly denying equal protection to preborn children. God demands justice — Not injustice upon injustice until maybe, someday you reach justice.
What preceded Value Them Both
Value Them Both is supposed to be a response to the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling Nauser and Hodes v. Schmidt which struck down an earlier abortion ban, Kansas SB 95 (which itself has its own problems, but that’s neither here nor their.) The Court, in its decision, argued the Kansas Bill of Rights, guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion under the claim of “bodily autonomy”. To no one’s surprise, the word or implication of “abortion” is found nowhere in the Kansas bill of rights. With zero self-awareness, the court cites multiple times what is in Bill of Rights: the “right to life.”
In its 2019 opinion, the court further argued the state couldn’t prove an interest in denying women the right to end their pregnancies (i.e., killing their babies) and cited Roe V. Wade’s opinion denying the personhood of the preborn child.
Exploit Them Both
The Value Them Both amendment claims to be a response to Nauser and Hodes v. Schmidt, but we draw umbrage with this claim on several points. We believe abortion activists in positions of power within the Republican party are exploiting the pro-life movement to protect abortion in Kansas. Here are three points, but not limited to..
Point #1: Better options already presented
AIMKS has a very robust Kansas Abortion Ban which would abolish abortion in Kansas and nullify any federal attempts to impede it. While we weren’t aware of their bill when we drafted our Act to Nullify Abortion, it’s very similar. Abolishing abortion is a no-nonsense affair.
If pro-life advocates in Kansas want to actually end baby murder in their state, the Kansas Abortion Ban is the logical choice, it’s been long typed up, and ready to go.
Point #2: Amend the Constitution
Value Them Both is amending the constitution to regulate abortion “including but not limited to,” but why isn’t it simply amending the state constitution to ban abortion? How about declare the preborn child as a human being with equal protection under the law? Why, with all of these choices which would have emphatically and unequivocally ended abortion in Kansas, why did they opt to “protect abortion regulations” instead of “end abortion”? Since when has the role of the pro-life movement been to “protect abortion regulations”?
Hint: If your lobbyists, activists, and politicians are rallying you behind a bill to “protect abortion regulations”, THEY AREN’T PRO-LIFE.
Point #3: The wording on the ballot is deliberately misleading
The wording which VTB will have on the August 2, 2022 ballot is really bad. Should you choose to vote against VTB, this is how the amendment describes a vote against it:
“A vote against the Value Them Both Amendment would make no changes to the constitution of the state of Kansas and could prevent the people, through their elected state legislators, from regulating abortion in many circumstances. It would leave in place the newly discovered right to abortion first recognized in 2019.”
How is that for neutrality? Yet, even the ballot description is clear the intention is to regulate, not abolish abortion. Denying the constitutional right isn’t the same as ending abortion.
Anyone who says otherwise has either bought the propaganda or has ulterior motives.
No Excuses Post-Dobbs
The overturning of Roe by the 2022 Dobbs opinion undermines key points of the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling. The majority opinion of Dobbs returned the key questions of Roe back to the states.
We’ve argued from the beginning, the states have always had an inherent right to defy Roe. But now, with the overturning of Roe, those who believed in its magical power to shackle the states to unfettered baby murder are without excuse. The only reason to pass an amendment to regulate baby murder is to protect baby murder.
Draft a bill to end abortion, or better yet, get behind the Kansas Abortion Ban, impeach the unjust judges, and be done with abortion. Grow a pair of whatever God gave you, and stand up to protect the children of your state.
Featured Image Doug Kerr / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Kansas State House Dome by Onasill / flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
