Kansas Law Requires Abortion Doctors to Give Patients Their Resumes — in a Specific Font

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback continued his anti-abortion crusade on June 7 when he signed his 19th piece of legislation infringing on women's reproductive rights since taking office in 2011.

The new law will require doctors to give women seeking abortions physical printouts of their resumes, including biographical information, malpractice insurance, and educational history — and they must do it in black ink, on white paper, in 12-pt, Times New Roman font. Not only are the instructions ridiculously archaic (who even prints things anymore?), but the document must be distributed to a woman at least 24 in advance of her abortion. Notably, delaying women's ability to access abortion via state-mandated waiting periods has been a key tactic of abortion opponents nationwide in their efforts to chip away at reproductive rights.

The legislation is so aggressive that even some of Brownback's colleagues who are opposed to abortion are publicly speaking out against it. "I don't like abortion, but this bill is just harassment," Sen. Lynn Rogers told the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Laura McQuade, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, framed the bill as a distraction in a statement shared with POPSUGAR. "It is no coincidence that Governor Brownback signed SB 83, an extreme piece of legislation that unfairly targets abortion providers, one day after the Kansas Legislature overrode the Governor's veto of a tax reform plan."

The Kansas law is both representative of the increased rollback of reproductive rights on the state level in recent years and of Brownback's self-proclaimed mission to make Kansas the "leading pro-life state in America."

The law goes into effect July 1. Eleven of Brownback's fellow Kansas lawmakers joined him for the signing ceremony. All of them were men.