Kari Ann Rinker is a former State Coordinator and Lobbyist for Kansas NOW. She has testified in numerous legislative hearings on issues ranging from the State ERA, Domestic Violence, Voter ID and Reproductive Rights. Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, Kari Ann has devoted much of her time toward grassroots activism and legislative action for women’s access to safe and legal abortion. Kari Ann been a visible force in both Kansas and National media speaking out on women's issues effecting Kansas. She has appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and the Lawrence O'Donnell Shows, NPR and been quoted in the Los Angeles Times. She traveled to Nebraska to help defend the clinic of Dr. Leroy Carhart in 2009 and again to his clinic in Maryland 2011. She has a B.S. in Organizational Management and Leadership from Friends University and a Masters of Public Administration and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Wichita State University.
Governor Brownback , like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, speaks about goals such as reducing childhood poverty while passing laws that actually deepen poverty throughout the state.
Oklahoma is joining the red-state race to be the first to challenge Roe v Wade at the national level, with an egg-as-person bill containing language to make it more… palatable?
How will a so-called personhood amendment fare in Kansas? We’re going to find out. Kansans for Life is already publicly skeptical, saying they are “afraid of pushing the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Today, Personhood Kansas announced via press release that it has pre-filed a Personhood bill in the Kansas legislature. We can expect to see that bill officially filed next week.
Nebraska Lawsuit Charges Deliberate Indifference by Authorities in Sexual Assault of Immigrant Woman
The ACLU of Nebraska filed a federal lawsuit this week against the Cass County Sheriff and Jail Administrator for reckless disregard of a female immigrant sexually assaulted while in detention.
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A Federal judge will allow crisis pregnancy centers to enter a lawsuit that the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed against the State of South Dakota. The lawsuit was brought against the state in response to legislation passed that makes a visit to a crisis pregnancy center mandatory before receiving an abortion.
If South Dakota provides us with any indication, it looks like 2012 will most likely be a sad repeat of 2011. Just one state among many that contributed to the drastic and unprecedented increase in abortion provisions attempted and enacted at the state level during 2011. Another state clamoring for the chance to regulate, harass and restrict abortion out of extinction within its borders.
Until a change of course is demanded in the state of Kansas, our elected oppressors will no doubt continue to spend their time, energy, resources and taxpayer money in the never-ending pursuit of being the first state to eliminate abortion and even some forms of contraception through the eradication of access, while saddling the taxpayers with an ideological debt.
The sorrow from the loss of a woman like Jana and the prospect of losing other Janas is sobering to a strong woman. It is a stark reminder that there are some things that are simply out of any one woman’s control.
Today’s news about our own Kathleen Sebelius’ overruling the FDA on EC for youth in need of pregnancy prevention is cause for a second continuous day for disappointment. This act serves as one more nail in the women’s rights coffin… jointly constructed by the Republican AND Democratic Party. As a lifelong, 3rd generation Democrat, I feel like a red-headed stepchild born of two blond parents, slightly out of place and wondering to whom I really belong.
