'Kansas Said No': Crowd Celebrates Abortion Rights Referendum Result

Kansas residents voted to protect abortion rights in the state in a referendum held on August 2, local media reported.

According to an AP estimate, 58.8 percent of voters voted no to a constitutional amendment on abortion. The amendment, dubbed “Value Them Both”, would have affirmed the lack of a constitutional right to abortion in the state and would have meant laws to regulate abortion could be passed by state legislators, according to the official ballot.

According to the ballot, a vote against the amendment “would make no changes to the constitution of the state of Kansas, and could restrict the people, through their elected state legislators, from regulating abortion by leaving in place the recently recognized right to abortion.”

This footage was filmed at an event for Mike Kelly who was on the August 2 primary ballot for the position of chair of the Johnson County Board of Commissioner.

It was published by local representative Dan Osman, and shows a crowd cheering after a woman announces, “Kansas said no.”

The state was the first to vote on the issue of abortion rights following the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v Wade. Credit: Dan Osman via Storyful

Video transcript

- We will. And we will do the work because Kansas said no.

[CHEERING]

[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

We will. And we will do the work because Kansas said no.

[CHEERING]

[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]