Kansas Senate Democrat breaks from party to add tax credit to fetal child support bill

TOPEKA — Republican legislation to establish child support payments for pregnancy-related costs — and, in turn, establish “fetal personhood” — revealed tension among legislators as one Democratic senator inserted a bipartisan tax credit provision.

Senate Democrats agreed that House Bill 2062, which requires courts to consider fetuses when determining child support judgments, risked providing legal precedent for treating fetuses as people. But with an amendment that expands eligibility for tax credits for families, Sen. Patrick Schmidt, D-Topeka, said he took an opportunity to make “lemonade out of lemons,” while his Democratic colleagues disagreed.

Most Republicans, initially hesitant, were in favor of Schmidt’s amendment Tuesday and approved it in a preliminary vote.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, before legislators took final action on the bill, Schmidt said he had “the most pro-choice legislator” in the delegation. He ultimately voted against the bill along with the rest of the nine-member Democratic caucus.

While fielding flack from Democrats and abortion rights advocates, Schmidt told Kansas Reflector he expects his amendment will either kill the bill because of its added nuance or give families tax credits, both of which he considers a win, especially for his constituents in central Topeka.

The amendment created a child tax credit for all pregnant parents, not just those involved in child support judgments. Parents would be allowed to claim “an unborn child” on their tax returns, and a taxpayer identification number would be assigned to a fetus.

“It’s a bad bill, with or without an amendment,” Schmidt said.

Melissa Stiehler, a spokesperson with Loud Light Civic Action, said Schmidt made “serious mistakes” in declining to consult fellow Democrats, advocates and policy experts before proposing the amendment.

“It is pretty disappointing to hear Senator Schmidt declare himself the most ‘pro-choice lawmaker’ while simultaneously adding the most anti-abortion language I’ve ever seen a democratic lawmaker intentionally amend into a bill,” she wrote in a statement.

Stiehler called the amendment “bad economic policy,” claiming Schmidt’s proposal was a regressive flat tax break. She said it was “bad constitutional policy” because it added more fetal personhood language to the bill. She said he utilized “bad political strategy” in trying to alter the bill without consulting experienced lawmakers and playing into anti-abortion efforts.

“He just gave it to them without a fight and now with bipartisan support,” she said.

Schmidt stuck by his strategy. If Democrats want to stop legislation they disagree with, they have to try something new, said Schmidt, who is serving his first year in the Legislature.

“The same tactics are not going to work in perpetuity,” he said. “They haven’t been working.”

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, in an explanation of her “no” vote Wednesday, said the bill was disguised as a child support bill but was “far more insidious.”

“This bill grants legal recognition to a fetus as a separate person, even providing a state tax ID number, which would have sweeping consequences beyond financial support,” Sykes said.

Instead of helping women, the bill makes reproductive rights vulnerable to attack, she said.

The bill passed the Senate in a 30-9 vote, with all Democrats voting against it. It passed the House in February in an 85-34 vote, but House and Senate negotiators would have to work out differences in their versions of the bill before sending it to the governor.

Anti-abortion organizations were the architects and primary proponents of the legislation during the bill’s hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee’s chair, Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood, said Tuesday on the Senate floor that the bill wouldn’t change anything about how paternity is assessed or who is required to pay child support.

“It just adds it to the list of the other nine factors that a court shall consider when considering an order of child support,” Warren said.

Sen. Cindy Holscher, D-Overland Park, proposed an amendment to remove large portions of the bill’s text. Expanding child support obligations establishes “legal personhood” for fetuses, she said.

“That move is a foundational step to restricting access to forms of reproductive health care,” Holscher said.

Her amendment failed.