I urge the Catholic Church and the Republican Party to refrain from seeking additional restrictions on abortion in the 2023 legislative session. Kansas voters rejected the imposition of Catholic teaching on abortion in August 2022, so why cause more strife in our state by debating abortion again?

Instead, the Catholic Church should focus on one of its biggest problems: the sexual abuse of boys and girls by its own Catholic priests and the coverup of these abuses by Catholic bishops. Sexual abuse and coverups occurred many times over many years, as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation documented in a report summary released Jan. 6, 2023, by the-Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Having the Catholic Church repair its problems with bishops and priests is not the only reason for not seeking more restrictions on abortion.

Abortion is a religious and moral issue, and citizens should not be prohibited by the government or…