TOPEKA, KS (KCTV) – The top two Republicans in the state of Kansas are at odds over abortion rights and a Medicaid expansion that would make healthcare available to thousands more Kansans.
Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle is being accused of holding a bi-partisan Medicaid expansion bill hostage until the House takes action on limiting abortion.
The constitutional amendment before lawmakers would ensure the state legislature’s ability to enforce abortion restrictions.
Kansas Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning thought the health care bill he drafted with help from Governor Laura Kelly would be a breeze to pass. Of the 22 sponsors on the legislation, half are Democrats, half are Republicans.
“The bill is full of really good healthcare policy for not only the Medicaid population, but the non-Medicaid population as well,” Denning explained.
Wagle says won’t let the bill leave committee, though, without knowing it included specific funding restrictions tied to abortion in Kansas.
“I believe Medicaid expansion will pass both the House and Senate, if Kansans are assured they do not have to fund abortions with their taxpayer dollars,” Wagle told KCTV5 News.
A Kansas Supreme Court decision from last year puts into question whether the state will legally be able to enforce abortion restrictions, so the senate passed a measure that would allow Kansas voters to change the constitution.
Wagle said she believes that vote needs to happen before moving forward on any Medicaid expansion.
“We need to make sure that passes before we work with Medicaid expansion because if we allow Medicaid expansion in the state of Kansas, and the court strikes down our regulation that says Kansas taxpayers do not have to find abortion, which they certainly will, then we will have tax funded abortions in Kansas,” she claimed.
Denning voted for the anti-abortion amendment but disagrees with Wagle’s reasoning that Medicaid expansion would lead to tax payer funded abortion.
“She’s taking the position to hold up the entire process because she’s worried about 1,000 people are getting pregnant and becoming taxpayer funded, elective abortions,” he said. “So, it’s a stretch.”
Denning questions Wagle’s motives in blocking the healthcare bill, pointing out that she is running for U.S. Senate and that “stopping ‘Obamacare,’ Medicaid expansion in every fashion, would play well to her base.”
Still, he says he’s doing what he can to get the four votes needed for the abortion amendment to pass in the House so Wagle will allow the healthcare discussion to move forward.
Wagle is confident that the House will pass the amendment and says once that happens, Medicaid expansion is back up for discussion.