Danielle Underwood, director of communications for Kansans for Life, recently criticized Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly for dubbing abortion an "essential need" during pandemic lockdowns.

While some states temporarily closed abortion clinics during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, Kelly deemed abortion essential, drawing in women from neighboring states to undergo abortions in Kansas, the Kansas Reflector reported. Abortions in Kansas increased by 9% from 2019 to 2020, including a 15% increase in out-of-state women. The number of Texas women who had abortions in Kansas increased from 25 in 2019 to 289 in 2020, while the number of Oklahoma women who had abortions in Kansas rose from 85 to 277.

“It is crystal clear that, worldwide, governments considered it necessary to delay or cancel millions of medical procedures to minimize the spread of COVID-19,” Underwood said on the Kansas for Life website. “Yet Gov. Kelly turned our state into an elective abortion magnet. That magnet will become even stronger once the abortion industry sues all of our regulations and forces Kansas taxpayers to pay for abortions right up to the moment of birth. This is exactly why we must pass the Value Them Both amendment in August 2022.” 

Abortions in Kansas increased from 7,542 in 2020 to 7,849 in 2021, a yearly increase of 4.1% and the largest number of abortions performed in the state since 2011, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. According to the report, 751 of those abortions were performed on teenagers — six of whom were under the age of 14 — and 32% of the women had at least one prior abortion. The Value Them Both amendment would undo a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling that stated women have a right to abortion at any point in pregnancy.

The Value Them Both amendment would not ban abortion in the state of Kansas. The amendment would leave the door open for lawmakers to enact protections, such as restricting second and third trimester abortions, which involve dismembering babies.

The vote for the Value Them Both amendment on takes place on Aug. 2.