Spielberg among donors in $22M Kansas campaign on abortion

By JOHN HANNA and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abortion opponents and abortion rights advocates together spent more than $22 million on a ballot question this month in Kansas, and famed film director and producer Steven Spielberg contributed to the successful effort to affirm abortion rights. The campaign was over a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion. Finance reports filed by 40 groups and individuals with the state showed that abortion rights supporters spent $11.3 million on their campaign to defeat the measure. Abortion opponents who pushed the measure spent nearly $11.1 million. Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw each contributed $25,000 to the no campaign.