Fox News was criticized after the network downplayed the news Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected efforts to restrict reproductive rights in the state by moving to enshrine them in the state's constitution.
Fox network personalities assured their forced birth advocate viewers that reproductive rights advocates had spent a considerable amount of money "to make sure that amendment failed."
The network went so far as to suggest pro-birth efforts are more likely to succeed "when they're incremental," adding it's a "reminder" Roe v. Wade was overturned and the decision about whether or not people who can give birth have abortion access is now a matter of "state's rights."
You can hear what they said in the video below.
\u201chere's how Fox News is downplaying the anti-abortion constitutional amendment in Kansas going down in flames\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1659495548
The news marked a great loss for the conservative movement that has sought to roll back reproductive rights even further in the weeks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
Fox News was criticized for downplaying the significance of the moment.
\u201c"Republicans in the state legislature\u00a0wrote\u00a0the\u00a0language on the ballot\u00a0last year, and ever since experts have argued it is\u00a0purposefully confusing\u00a0and\u00a0misleading."\nDespite the #GOP's efforts, the people understood + they've spoken.\u201d— George Marinelli (@George Marinelli) 1659497056
\u201cThere is so much happening here. What a joke.\u201d— Gail \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Gail \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1659497445
\u201cFox busting out the industrial-grade copium for this one\u201d— Psittacus (@Psittacus) 1659499013
\u201cWho would have guessed women dying in doctors' offices with treatable conditions because of politics was unpopular politics?\u201d— B Knapp (@B Knapp) 1659499540
\u201cThis isn\u2019t working out. Ha\u201d— alt PNC16basses #StandWithUkraine \ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfc (@alt PNC16basses #StandWithUkraine \ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfc) 1659501737
\u201cHow @GOP losers gaslight losing:\u201d— Adrian Benepe (@Adrian Benepe) 1659505490
\u201cWe really need the anti-abortion crowd to hang in there and be just as extreme as they have been so far. Getting beaten so badly made discourage them and we can't have that we want the midterms to be about this issue and this issue alone.\u201d— Scott Dunham Wallace PhD (@Scott Dunham Wallace PhD) 1659509609
\u201cWait, so a state decided and they think it's wrong?\n\nShouldn't they be supporting the fact that the state decided?\n\nAnd yeah, incremental change works, because a lot of people don't realize how extreme you're republican policies are.\u201d— I'm the Mask Wearing Cyclist. (@I'm the Mask Wearing Cyclist.) 1659518950
\u201c\u201cPro-life measures do much better when they\u2019re incremental\u201d\n\nTranslation: Pro-life/Anti-woman measures do better when state legislators (Republicans) are elected and use their position to add anti-choice/anti-women\u2019s health legislation to the state laws.\n\n#VoteBlue to save U.S.\u201d— \u2618\ufe0f Tracy Corrigan \u2618\ufe0f (@\u2618\ufe0f Tracy Corrigan \u2618\ufe0f) 1659525722
Kansas voters secured a win for reproductive rights activists after voting to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution, the result of an effort to ensure the state—typically Republican and conservative—remains a safe haven for abortion in the Midwest.
Shortly after the voting result was announced, Democratic President Joe Biden said it "makes clear what we know: the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions."
Kansas Democratic United States Representative Sherice Davids called the vote a win for families.
\u201cThis is a win for Kansans, our families, and our rights. We rejected extremism and chose a path forward that protects all Kansans\u2019 ability to make their own choices, without government interference.\u201d— Sharice Davids (@Sharice Davids) 1659495956
\u201cJoining @Morning_Joe shortly to talk about last night\u2019s victory over extremism. Proud to be a Kansan today and every day.\n\nTune in!\u201d— Sharice Davids (@Sharice Davids) 1659533014
Dinah Sikes, a Democratic state Senator, hailed the decision saying it is "breathtaking that women’s voices were heard and we care about women’s health."
Sikes said that she thought the vote would be quite close and acknowledged that "we were close in a lot of rural areas and that really made the difference."
