Kentucky activist reflects on victory for abortion rights
52 percent of state's voters didn't want to ban the procedure
Kentucky surprised many political observers when a state constitutional amendment to ban abortion was defeated in the last election.
Wayne Gnatuk, board chairman of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said that 52 percent of the state’s population voted no on the proposed ban because they thought abortion should be legal at least on some occasions. If the ban would have passed, there would have been no possibility for abortion.
“I think that I think the majority of voters thought that it went too far,” Gnatuk said.
It behooves activists across the country to study what happened in Kansas and Kentucky in shaping their messages and appeals. Both states have tended to vote Republican in most elections in the last quarter century. And yet both have more nuanced views on abortion than that which is portrayed within the accepted political narrative.
Kansas voters defeated an abortion ban in August of this year.
Gnatuk said his organization will work to counteract any prohibitive things the state legislature attempts to do with abortion. He hopes they got the message.
Gnatuk said they emphasized that abortion should be a matter left to a woman, her doctor and God. His rhetoric is direct, understandable and comparative of the rights and treatment afforded to men that also should be given to women. That may seem simple, but it’s often something that eludes many activists on this issue.
“Politicians don't tell me when I have to have gallbladder surgery,” Gnatuk said. “Why should they be able to tell a woman what to do with her body? I think Kentuckians understand that and I think that's been the case all along.”