Kansas votes on abortion rights in US test case

Voters headed to the polls in the Midwestern US state of Kansas to weigh in on the first major ballot on abortion since the Supreme Court ended the national right to the procedure in June.

The vote is heavy with consequences for Kansans, who will decide whether to remove the right to terminate a pregnancy from the traditionally conservative state's constitution.

But it is also seen as a test case for abortion rights nationwide, as Republican-dominated legislatures rush to impose strict bans on the procedure following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Other states including California and Kentucky are set to vote on the hot-button issue in November, at the same time as Congressional midterm elections in which both Republicans and Democrats hope to use it to mobilise their supporters nationwide.

In Kansas, the ballot centers on a 2019 ruling by the state's supreme court that guarantees access to abortion -- currently up to the 22-week stage of pregnancy. 

In response, the Republican-dominated state legislature introduced an amendment known as "Value Them Both" that would scrap the constitutional right, with the stated aim of handing regulation of the procedure back to lawmakers.

In the opposing camp, activists see the campaign as a barely masked bid to clear the way for an outright ban -- one state legislator has already introduced a bill that would ban abortion without exceptions for rape, incest or the mother's life.