The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Missouri legislators pass abortion ban at 8 weeks
Bill does not include exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — Missouri’s Republican-led House on Friday passed sweeping legislation designed to survive court challenges, which would ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy.
If enacted, the ban would be among the most restrictive in the U.S. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Doctors would face five to 15 years in prison for violating the eight-week cutoff. Women who receive abortions wouldn’t be prosecuted.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson pledged to sign the bill, but it’s unclear when he’ll take action. When pressed on the lack of exceptions, he told reporters “all life has value.”
The Missouri legislation comes after Alabama’s governor signed a bill Wednesday making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases.
Supporters say the Ala- bama bill is meant to conflict with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abor- tion nationally in hopes of sparking a court case that might prompt the current panel of more conservative justices to revisit abortion rights.
Missouri Republicans are taking a different approach.
Rep. Nick Schroer said his legislation is “made to with- stand judicial challenges and not cause them.”
He cited extensive “legislative findings” included in the bill about fetal develop- ment that are aimed at backing up the state’s interest in limiting abortion if the measure is challenged, as well as new judges appointed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Donald Trump. Republican House Speaker Elijah Haahr said the mea- sure was drafted with a legal team and based on previous court rulings across the U.S. “We spent hours upon hours researching what courts have said in their decisions and what they believe to be important,” Haahr said. If courts don’t allow Missouri’s proposed eight-week ban to take effect, the bill includes a ladder of less-restrictive time limits that would prohibit abortions at 14, 18 or 20 weeks of pregnancy.
“While others are zeroing in on ways to overturn Roe v. Wade and navigate the courts as quickly as possible, that is not our goal,” Schroer said.
Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia also have approved bans on abortion once fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy. Some of those laws already have been challenged in court, and similar restrictions in North Dakota and Iowa previously were struck down by judges.
Missouri Democratic Sen. Jill Schupp said she believes the eight-week ban goes against Roe v. Wade, under which justices noted that viability typically was 24 to 28 weeks. But she said parts of the wide-ranging bill likely will survive.
“I do believe that there are probably some provisions that will pass court challenges,” Schupp said.
Missouri’s bill also includes an outright ban on abortions except in cases of medical emergencies. But unlike Alabama’s, it would kick in only if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Clinicians reacted with disgust to the passage of the bill.
“Ob-gyns and other women’s health care providers should not be threatened with criminal penalties for delivering evidence-based, necessary health care,” the Missouri Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in an emailed statement.
The Hope Clinic for Women, which performs abortions in Granite City, Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis, noted it already sees Mi ssouri patients on a daily basis.