This afternoon, at around noon Central Daylight Time in Jefferson City, Missouri, the Missouri House passedextremeanti-abortion bill HB126into law110-44. The bill initially passed the House 117-39 in February and the Senate passed it early Thursday morning by a margin of 24-10. Gov. Mike Parson (R), who took over the Governorship of Missouri when blackmailer Eric Greitens (R) resigned, plans to sign the bill.
HB126 would ban nearly all abortions after 8 weeks, prohibiting it with the exception of medical emergencies. The bill would charge doctors who perform abortions in Missouri with fines and up to 15 years in jail, in addition to the loss of their professional license. Persons who choose to undergo abortions in the Show-Me State will NOT be punished.
Catherine Pearson and Lydia O’Connor at HuffPost:
Days after Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion law in the country, the Missouri House passed a bill on Friday banning most abortions eight weeks after a woman conceives. The legislation heads to the desk of Gov. Mike Parson (R), who is expected to sign it.
With just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills, the GOP-led House voted 110-44 in favor of the ban, which only permits abortions after the eight-week cutoff in the case of medical emergency.
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The Missouri bill does not make exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Doctors would face up to 15 years in prison for performing an abortion after the eight-week cutoff.
Missouri already has extremely limited access to abortion, with only one provider left in the state. NARAL Pro-Choice America estimates that 95 percent of Missouri women live in counties lacking abortion access.
Tasneem Nashrulla at BuzzFeed News:
Different versions of the bill — dubbed Missouri Stands With the Unborn — were reconciled between the Republican-led Senate and House Thursday before being sent to the governor's desk. The final version would impose a ban on abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy, or generally when a fetal heartbeat or brain activity is detected. It only makes exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.
The bill also includes a “trigger” provision that would outlaw all abortions in the state if the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
Missouri is the latest to join in a wave of far-reaching anti-abortion legislation introduced or passed in several states as part of a concerted effort to get the issue before a newly conservative-leaning Supreme Court bench.
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Missouri's bill would make it a Class B felony for doctors to perform abortions after eight weeks. Doctors who do could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine, along with losing their professional license. Women who receive abortions wouldn't be prosecuted.
In cases of minors undergoing an abortion, the bill requires both parents of the minor to be notified. The bill also bars abortions in cases where the woman is seeking an abortion solely because prenatal testing indicated that her child will have Down Syndrome.
Jack Suntrup at St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
JEFFERSON CITY — Drawing jeers from abortion rights activists seated in the Missouri House, lawmakers on Friday approved a sweeping piece of anti-abortion legislation, a bill that would ban most abortions in the state of Missouri.
The final vote was 110-44, and the proposal now heads to Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, who is expected to sign the measure.
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The proposal is designed to trigger a court challenge that the GOP sees as a way of overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
The bill bans abortions in the state of Missouri at eight weeks of pregnancy, except when the life of the mother is threatened. There are no exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking.
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It also includes a provision to ban a woman from aborting a fetus that might have Down syndrome, as well as a two-parent notification requirement that the Senate weakened earlier this week.
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If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, "in whole or in part," the legislation states that all abortions would be made illegal except in cases of a medical emergency.
Missouri already has extremely restrictive abortion laws, with only one abortion provider operating in the entire state. The eight-week ban does not include any exceptions for instances of rape, incest, or human trafficking (though it does allow for the procedure in cases of medical emergency), and doctors who perform the procedure face up to 15 years in prison.
The Missouri senate’s vote on the eight-week ban comes shortly after Alabama lawmakers voted to approve a six-week ban on the procedure, which likewise did not include any exceptions. The Alabama abortion law, which was designed as a direct threat to Roe v. Wade, followed a similar draconian law enacted in Georgia, and others in Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa, and North Dakota. The six-week bans are referred to as “heartbeat bills” by anti-abortion advocates. In effect, the bills would basically prohibit most abortions, since they only allow for an extremely short window for women to even detect a pregnancy.
Amanda Michelle Gomez at ThinkProgress:
Lawmakers in Missouri sent a sweeping anti-abortion package to the governor on Friday, emboldened by other GOP states that passed extreme measures in recent days.
Missouri’s Republican-controlled House approved the bill in a 110-44 vote, and sent it to Gov. Mike Parson (R). Parson is likely to sign it, as he has said he wants to make the state “one of the strongest pro-life states in the country.”
The package would outlaw abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy, providing an exception only for medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors who violate the law could face five to 15 years in prison and have their licenses suspended. If the eight-week ban is declared unconstitutional, lawmakers included back-up plans in the bill — banning abortion at 14, 18, and 20 weeks.
The package also includes a so-called trigger ban. Should Roe v. Wade be overturned, the state would automatically outlaw all abortions. Additionally, the bill requires minors to get parental consent before having an abortion, more reporting requirements for physicians, and gives tax-credits for donations to centers who have a history of misleading patients.
The passage of this draconian attack on abortion is a total embarrassment to common sense and adds to the Show-Me State’s already-tattered image to the nation and to the world.