Another twist in the Roe v Wade saga, voters hit back

Abortion-rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington. Photo / AP

Voters in Kansas have pushed back against their Republican-controlled Legislature's bid to tighten abortion restrictions or ban it outright.

This week, voters took to the polls for a referendum which proposed an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have added language stating that it does not grant the right to abortion.

The referendum in the conservative state was the first test of US voter sentiment about abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June.

Following that ruling many states in the South and Midwest of the country largely banned abortion.

Also in that ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the five conservative justices who voted to scrap Roe, wrote that the court "should reconsider" several other legal precedents as well.

Thomas noted they should reconsider all of this court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell. These judgements related to the right to access contraception, have sexual relationships with members of the same sex, and marry partners of the same sex.

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