Is Kansas going to be the first state without abortion services?

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Are abortion’s days numbered in Kansas? The consensus among both abortion-rights supporters and opponents is “maybe.” The state Legislature passed rigid new restrictions on abortion clinics in April, which included increased power for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to rewrite standards for clinics. The KDHE complied, releasing the new standards on June 17, and they won’t be easy for abortion providers to meet.

Mother Jones reports:

The new requirements require facilities to add extra bathrooms, drastically expand waiting

and recovery areas, and even add larger janitors’ closets, as one

clinic employee told me — changes that clinics will have a heck of a time

pulling off by the deadline. Under the new rule, clinics must also acquire state certification to admit patients, a process that takes 90 to

120 days, the staffer explained. Which makes it impossible for clinics

to comply. And clinics that don’t comply with the rules will face fines

or possible closure.

Kansas clinics will be told by July 1 if they will receive KDHE licenses. Peter Browlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, told the Associated Press that closure is a real possibility.