TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says he’ll ask the state Supreme Court to review a ruling from a lower court that blocks the state from enforcing its first-in-the-nation ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure.
The Republican attorney general said in a statement that Friday’s ruling from the Kansas Court of Appeals provides little legal clarity.
The Court of Appeals split 7-7, allowing a trial-court judge’s decision against the 2015 law to stand. The split means the Court of Appeals upheld the trial-court judge’s finding that the state constitution protects abortion rights independently of the U.S. Constitution.
Schmidt said he’s always anticipated that the Kansas Supreme Court will have to decide the issue.
