Kansas State Rep. Brenda Landwehr (R-Whichita), a vocal opponent of abortion, admitted to House members Wednesday that she had had an abortion during debate on a bill.

From The Wichita Eagle:

The Wichita Republican, a vocal opponent of abortion, was telling the 123 other House members present why abortion clinics should be subject to tougher regulations and greater scrutiny than other medical clinics. One reason, she said, is the emotional scars that linger for the patients.

“How many of you have sat down and really talked to a young woman who’s gone through with an abortion, and what she’s living with today?” Landwehr asked, before pausing. “You live with a lot. I’m one of those women. I live with that pain every single day. Because I killed a baby…. It’s more than just a surgical procedure, having a knee repaired or a hip replaced.”

In the end, Landwehr’s story wasn’t enough to prevent a majority of House members from changing the bill to include stricter regulations for almost all office-based medical procedures, not just abortions.

The change amounts to a minor defeat for lawmakers who wanted to single out abortion clinics for special regulations. Landwehr’s plea showed again how personal the abortion issue is in Kansas politics and how emotional the debate can get.

After the vote, Landwehr said she had never before spoken publicly of her abortion. Landwehr, 50, married and a mother of three, declined to discuss how long ago it occurred or the circumstances.

For three straight years, the House has passed a bill calling for tougher regulations for abortion clinics. Twice the bill has made it to the desk of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who vetoed it both times, saying it unfairly singled out abortion clinics and not other office-based clinics. Getting the bill passed has become a key goal of the state’s anti-abortion activists.

The restrictions would entail more detailed licensing rules for abortion clinics and inspections by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Currently, abortion providers are regulated by the state’s Board of Healing Arts, but anti-abortion activists argue that the board is ineffective and rarely follows up on complaints.

This year a group of Democrats and moderate Republicans pushed through an amendment that would expand the tighter restrictions to cover all office-based surgery clinics. They argued that a bill treating all clinics the same stood a better chance of appeasing Sebelius and being signed into law.

Saying any bill was better than another veto, a number of anti-abortion lawmakers supported the amendment, which passed 66-56.

Rep. Terrie Huntington, R-Mission Hills, sponsored the amendment. She argued that it made no sense not to extend the tighter rules and regulations to all office-based surgery.

The altered bill “takes the politics out of the examination room,” she said, while holding all clinics to the same scrutiny by state health inspectors.

But several anti-abortion lawmakers worry that Huntington’s amendment is not as stringent as the original proposal, and they argue that there’s no reason to place greater regulations on clinics that do not perform abortions. Abortion clinics are inherently different from other medical facilities, they say, and deserve tough regulations.

“The basic fact is this: Abortion is evil,” said Rep. Mike Kiegerl, R-Olathe.

The House is set for a final vote on the measure today before sending it to the Senate. With two months left in the legislative session, it’s too early to say what form the bill will take when — and if — it ends up on Sebelius’ desk.

Landwehr said she was disappointed that the amendment passed but that the fight would go on. There’s still a possibility of passing a bill more favorable to anti-abortion lawmakers, she said.

“Anything’s possible in this place,” she said.