The GOP-led Missouri House passed Friday legislation banning abortion at eight weeks of pregnancy, sending to the Republican governor a bill that would give the state one of the toughest pro-life laws in the nation.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign the bill, which would allow the procedure for medical emergencies but not rape or incest. The 110-44 vote in favor of HB 126 came as protesters outside chanted “shame, shame, shame” and “when politicians lie, people die.”
Missouri’s vote comes as the latest in a wave of red-state legislation aimed at narrowing the window on abortion. Four states, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, have approved this year fetal-heartbeat bills, which forbid abortions after about six weeks, or when the heartbeat can be detected.
On Wednesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill banning abortions after two weeks’ gestation except in cases of a “serious health risk.” The legislation’s sponsors said it was crafted as a challenge to the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
“Today Missouri has sent the strongest #ProLife bill in our nation to @GovParsonMO,” tweeted the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Nicholas Schroer[1]. “I will never stand down in protecting life from womb to tomb and am proud to stand with our most vulnerable.”
Today Missouri has sent the strongest #ProLife bill in our nation to @GovParsonMO. I will never stand down in protecting life from womb to tomb and am proud to stand with our most vulnerable. #MOLeg #MissouriStandsfortheUnbornAct pic.twitter.com/iasm3mY0Ox[2][3][4][5][6]
— Nicholas B. Schroer (@NickBSchroer) May 17, 2019[7]
Missouri Republicans said the legislation was designed to withstand court challenges. If the eight-week ban is struck down, the limit would be moved to 14 weeks, then 18 weeks, then 20 weeks. The bill also contains a “trigger” to prohibit abortion if Roe is overturned.
Even so, the American Civil Liberties Union announced immediately afterward the vote that it would challenge the bill in court.
“Missouri just joined 5 other states this year in voting to ban abortion,” the ACLU tweeted. “Missouri’s law will be stopped by the courts — just like Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama’s. We all have a constitutional right to abortion and we will fight for it.”
#STOPTHEBANS #moLeg https://t.co/uZJDULWBmV[8][9][10] — Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri (@PPMO_Advocates) May 17, 2019[11]When politicians lie, people die! We demand a veto!
Planned Parenthood blasted the measure as a “monster anti-abortion bill,” while the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List praised the passage of the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, which was approved the day...