EMILYs List Statement on Kansas Voters Preserving Abortion Rights in the State Constitution

For Immediate Release
August 2, 2022

EMILYs List Statement on Kansas Voters Preserving Abortion Rights in the State Constitution 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The majority of Kansas voters decided to keep abortion protections in the state constitution by voting against a ballot measure that would remove that right and allow the Republican-controlled state legislature to ban abortion. President of EMILYs List Laphonza Butler released the following statement in response:
 
“Kansas voters made their voices loud and clear at the ballot box: they believe in personal liberty and will not stand for Republican efforts of extremism to take away their freedom. Make no mistake, abortion is on the ballot across the country in November, and voters will be holding Republicans accountable for their efforts to strip us of our rights—the success of blocking this anti-abortion ballot initiative is proof of that. Voters will not stand by while Republicans play politics with our bodies and our futures. With less than 100 days until the midterms, our work at EMILYs List to elect women that will protect our freedom, like Gov. Laura Kelly and Rep. Sharice Davids in Kansas, is more important than ever.”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.