Posted: April 12th, 2012, 9:00am MSD
On April 12, 2011, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed two bills into law that restrict access to abortions in the state. The first bill, the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights Act, requires minors to obtain parental signatures before receiving an abortion. The second bill, the Fetal Pain Bill, prohibits abortions after 22 weeks based on the belief that a fetus can experience pain beyond that stage in gestation. Both the Kansas House of Representatives and Kansas Senate approved the bills in March 2011, which were modeled on legislation approved by the Nebraska legislature in April 2010. Several other states passed similar bills restricting abortion between March 2011 and April