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          Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215, 338, 213 L.Ed.2nd 545, 142 S.Ct. 2228 (2022), helpfully categorizes constitutions as “pro-life,” “pro-choice,” or “neutral” with respect to abortion. Right to Life of Kansas, Inc. believes the Kansas Constitution is pro-life. The State of Kansas, however, has litigated as though our constitution is neutral, and this Court has ruled as though it is pro-choice. See Hodes & Nauser, MDs. v. Stanek, 318 Kan. 995, 551 P.3d 62 (2024); Hodes & Nauser, MDs. v. Kobach, 318 Kan. 940, 551 P.3d 37 (2024); Hodes & Nauser, MDs. v. Schmidt, 309 Kan. 610, 440 P.3d 461 (2019) (Hodes I).

            On the anniversary of Hodes I, Saturday, April 26, 2025, we will lead the Third Annual Prayer for Life around Capitol Square. Our intention is that God will grant Kansans the grace to accept Section 1 of our Bill of Rights:  “Equal rights.  All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Following John Locke, we should say, “there cannot be supposed any such Subordination among us, that may Authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one anothers uses [sic].” Two Treatises of Government. 2^nd ed, edited by Peter Laslett, Cambridge UP, 289. 

Please feel free to download and print the poster found below.

At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 26, we will meet at the southwest corner of Capitol Square (10th and Harrison). From there we will process around the capitol praying a decade of the rosary at each corner. We believe Kansas has a pro-life constitution, and our intention is that the people and goverment of Kansas open their eyes to the meaning of that text.

We once again called down God’s grace to sanctify this evil day in Kansas history. Participants traveled from outside the Topeka area to join locals in prayer for the people and government of our state. The event was very peaceful, and we were blessed with good weather after the storms.

We should be grateful to the framers of our 1859 Wyandotte constitution for acknowledging “Almighty God” in the first line of the Preamble, and for then proclaiming a “natural right[]” to “life” in the first substantive provision, Section 1 of the Bill of Rights. The delegate at Wyandotte who proposed the language of Section 1, Samuel A. Kingman, linked it to the Declaration of Independence, which similarly acknowledges God and sets out rights we receive (via our nature) from Him. The Declaration of Independence first refers to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” and then states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” After Kingman argued this “Declaration of Rights forms a part of our political creed, from which no man can extricate himself,” the delegates overwhelmingly voted to adopt. On April 26, 2019, however, the Kansas Supreme Court attempted to extricate itself from that creed, and many have willingly followed. We shall continue praying that the Supreme Court, together with all the government and people of Kansas, willingly return.

The body of an April 15, 2024, letter from Right to Life of Kansas, Inc. to the Kansas Supreme Court regarding the Hodes & Nauser decision and the Prayer for Life is reproduced here:

          “In Hodes & Nauser MDs v. Schmidt, this Court in essence held that abortion is a natural act. Only a natural act could constitute a ‘natural right,’ the language from the Kansas Constitution, Bill of Rights, § 1, upon which this Court relied. We at Right to Life of Kansas, Inc., do not understand how humanity can continue if it is natural to take the life of progeny, not give it. Nature herself has become red in tooth and claw.

          “Such is not the good nature identified by the Declaration of Independence, with its reference to ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.’ Nor is it consistent with the gratitude expressed in the Preamble of the Kansas Constitution, ‘to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges.’ We therefore will gather in Topeka on Friday, April 26th, the anniversary of Hodes & Nauser, to pray that all may respect human nature as described in Bill of Rights, § 1, a nature which includes an inalienable right to ‘life’.”

Thanks to all who travelled to Capitol Square to sanctify the anniversary of the Hodes & Nauser decision with sincere prayer for the people and government of the State of Kansas, and to all who participated from a distance by joining us in prayer. The day was immensely peaceful. We will continue praying that all may reject the idea that abortion is natural and instead choose life.