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Will the abortion fight affect the Kansas Supreme Court election?

Six of the seven Kansas Supreme Court Justices will be on the November ballot to keep their jobs. While retention elections usually fly under the radar, the fight over abortion could raise the stakes on Nov. 8. Plus, Kansas inmates say medical care is so bad, they're suffering for years without relief.

In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court determined that the state constitution guaranteed the right to an abortion. Now, six of those justices are up for retention. Steve Kraske asked Carol Beier, a former justice on the Kansas Supreme Court and Steve Leben, a former Kansas judge and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, how the current fight over reproductive rights could figure into the retention election.

Kansas prisons have struggled to offer quality medical care in recent years. The state says it’s satisfied with a new health contractor, but inmates say the medical care is so poor it threatens their health. Blaise Mesa of the Kansas News Service reports.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love, Trevor Grandin, and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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