Draft:Hodes & Nauser, MDs, P.A. v. Schmidt

Hodes & Nauser, MDs, P.A., v. Schmidt, 309 Kan. 610, 440 P.3d 461 (2019), is a landmark Kansas Supreme Court case which held that the Kansas Constitution protected the right to abortion in Kansas.

Background
In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were viewed as protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens. Kansas's first ban on abortion was passed in 1859, four years after the formation of the Kansas Territory. It read:"“Every person who shall administer to any woman, pregnant with a quick child, any medicine, drug or substance whatsoever, or shall use or employ any instrument or other means, with intent thereby to destroy such child, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such mother, or shall have been advised by a physician to be necessary for that purpose, shall be deemed guilty of manslaughter in the second degree.”"

Kansas Senate Bill 95
In January 2015, the Kansas Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act was introduced in the Kansas Senate which banned intact dilation and extraction abortions with no exceptions except for the mother's life or health.