By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Good for Kathleen Sebelius.

This year's anti-abortion bill sent to her by the GOP-dominated Legislature had the same problems as a similar measure that Sebelius vetoed last year.

The only thing different was the red-hot spotlight on Sebelius as she awaits U.S. Senate confirmation as health and human services secretary. With the heat on and anti-abortion groups calling for her head, she did the right thing and vetoed this year's flawed bill.

The proposed legislation presented a clear threat to women's privacy by enabling family members to sue if they believed an abortion provider had violated the law. How could you prove a claim like that without airing the women's situation and medical details in legal documents and possibly open court?

As Sebelius correctly noted, the bill was almost certainly unconstitutional and would have done nothing to reduce the number of abortions in Kansas.

I'll say this again: Sebelius is a moderate governor in a state that happens to be home to one of the few doctors willing to perform late-term abortions. Just like many other Kansans, that doctor, George Tiller, has exercised his constitutional right to contribute to political campaigns. Some of his money went to Sebelius.

Tiller's presence has made Kansas the base for some very vocal anti-abortion groups. They have magnified this connection between the governor and the doctor. In fact, most Kansans give Sebelius high approval ratings for efficiency in government, protecting the environment, and trying to enact health care reform.

In other words, this image that's being projected of Sebelius as some radical defender of the abortion industry is very much overstated. She's a pragmatic executive and it's ludicrous that her confirmation process has become so politicized.