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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas might chart its own legal path on abortion.
It would happen through a lawsuit that could turn a state in which the anti-abortion movement has won a long string of legislative victories into fairly friendly territory for abortion rights.
The state Supreme Court heard arguments this past week in a legal challenge to a 2015 law that bans a common second-trimester procedure. The key issue is whether the Kansas Constitution protects abortion rights independently of the U.S. Constitution.
If the justices say the state constitution does, Kansas courts could strike down abortion restrictions that federal courts have or would uphold.
The only certainty in such a case appears to be that Kansas courts would deal with additional legal disputes on abortion.
It's not clear when the court will rule.
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