Latest news with #MissouriRighttoLife
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri Right to Life voices opposition to newest version of anti-abortion amendment
Susan Klein, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, hosts a rally in the Missouri State Capitol rotunda last week (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). The newest reworking of a proposed constitutional amendment seeking to undermine abortion rights in Missouri has managed to draw the ire of the state's largest anti-abortion group. The version of the Republican-backed amendment approved by a House committee Monday, if passed out of the legislature and approved by voters, would outlaw abortion with limited exceptions for medical emergencies and survivors of rape and incest prior to 12 weeks gestation. The latest version, approved by a different House committee Tuesday, proposed adding a new section to the constitution seeking to put stricter parameters on the abortion-right amendment — also known as Amendment 3 — approved by voters in November. The bill's sponsor, Republican state Rep. Melanie Stinnett of Springfield, said Monday's version wasn't one she 'necessarily approved.' Stinnett said the latest version is again her own, based on feedback she received earlier in the session. 'It's really just addressing the things that I really feel like are in line with the people's expectations of what they were voting on in Amendment 3,' she said. Susan Klein with Missouri Right to Life in testifying against the legislation said while Monday's version sought to 'repeal and replace' Amendment 3, the new version fails to do so. Missouri Right to Life in a statement Wednesday called the revised amendment an 'extreme gamble,' raising doubts about whether it would actually limit the number of abortions provided under the law. Stinnett's latest legislation would ask voters if they want to add language into the constitution that does the following: Require any minors seeking reproductive health care first obtain parental consent. Define 'reproductive health care' as anything related to women's 'potential or actual pregnancy,' including prenatal care, contraception, miscarriage, childbirth and abortion. Clarify that women have the right to file medical malpractice challenges. Specify that no private or public funding can be required to go toward reproductive health care. Require that any legal challenges to the state law around reproductive health care be heard in Cole County. Establish there is 'compelling government interest' in reproductive health care. The issue of 'compelling government interest' in reproductive health care has been raised on several occasions as a court case challenging the state's abortion regulations continues to play out in Jackson County. Amendment 3 states that 'the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.' Referencing the language in Amendment 3, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang blocked a number of abortion regulations, including a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion and a mandate that physicians performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, citing a failure by the state to demonstrate compelling governmental interest. Stinnett, when asked about this language Tuesday, said it was necessary. 'Our government in many ways has an interest in health, safety and welfare,' she said. Missouri Right to Life also said the proposed amendment failed to challenge the abortion-right's amendment's non-discrimination clause. 'The judge in Jackson County used this provision to invalidate all of Missouri's health and safety regulations,' according to the group's statement Wednesday. 'And she, or another court, will do it again with Amendment 3 still in the Missouri Constitution.' Missouri health department rejects Planned Parenthood plan to start medication abortions House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas City, asked if a married 16-year-old would need to seek her parents' permission to obtain birth control under this amendment. 'The sad reality is that too many young people don't have that support,' she said, voicing concerns that the amendment is focused broadly on reproductive health care, including contraceptive access for minors. 'I think we open it up to a lot of young folks falling through the cracks, especially the most victimized and marginalized.' She also highlighted the language around federal funding, pointing out that the federal government just this week froze Title X family planning funds earmarked for a number of states, including Missouri. Providers say this could cause thousands of low-income Missourians to lose access to care for family planning services, including contraceptives. While Stinnett indicated she didn't approve of Monday's version of the bill, she did continue to include its requirement that any legal challenges to the state law around reproductive health care be heard in Cole County. The Missouri Attorney General's Office has been fighting unsuccessfully to move the Jackson County lawsuit to Cole County where last year, a judge attempted to remove the abortion-rights amendment from the ballot. Stinnett said at Tuesday's hearing that the Cole County language was included to address concerns around judicial load so that such cases could be brought forward quickly. Just this week, another lawsuit by Planned Parenthood against the state was filed somewhere other than Cole County. The new lawsuit filed Tuesday in the St. Louis Circuit Court challenges Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, saying he 'unlawfully blocked access to medication abortion' by issuing a cease-and-desist order to Planned Parenthood when the clinics were not prescribing the medication. 'The order violates due process by lacking any factual basis and failing to meet Missouri's legal standards for government actions,' Planned Parenthood Great Rivers said in a statement Monday. Stinnett's legislation is scheduled to go before the House rules committee Thursday morning. If approved there, it will go to the full House for debate. She said she anticipates more amendments will be offered on the House floor. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP representatives want to ask Missouri voters again about abortion
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Lawmakers heard legislation Tuesday to reverse what voters approved in November as GOP members are trying to make abortion illegal in the state again. Missouri was the first state to ban abortion following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Then, in November, voters approved Amendment 3, lifting the ban. Since then, Republicans have said they will use this legislative session to push back against the referendum, this time by taking the question back to voters. 'This is not politicians making decisions for you, your doctor and your healthcare,' Rep. Jamie Gragg, R-Ozark, said. 'This is actually letting you guys make that decision again.' On Tuesday, a long-debated political issue took center stage in the state capitol. 'They presented false information to people who voted for Amendment 3,' Susan Klein, Missouri Right to Life, told the committee. 'The opposition is going to say voters didn't understand what they voted for but we believe that Missourians are smarter than that; they knew exactly what they were voting for,' executive director for Abortion Action Missouri Mallory Schwarz said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now For hours, lawmakers heard testimony about legislation that would case voters if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape, incest or medical emergencies. In those cases, law enforcement would have to sign off on the rape or incest report and then abortion would only be legal for up to 12 weeks. 'Twelve weeks is simply not grace or empathy for survivors,' House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said. 'I would argue that under Amendment 3, which was passed by the voters, we do give much more grace to survivors by allowing them the time and the space to understand what's happening physically and emotionally.' Rep. Melanie Stinnett, R-Springfield, is sponsoring the legislation, House Joint Resolution 54. 'I think when we have concerns, it is our job as state representatives to, as we're having today, a discussion and consider changes that modify, clarify the language,' Stinnett said. Back in November, Amendment 3 won with nearly 52% approval. Even though the state's abortion ban was overturned, the procedure still isn't being offered inside Planned Parenthood clinics, as both sides await a judge's ruling to overturn the ban. 'Millions of Missourians made it clear by a statewide vote that we support access to crucial reproductive care,' Collins Chetwin said in opposition to the bill. 'Your job is to uphold the will of the people and defend our rights but instead you are attacking and eroding our bodily autonomy.' Last month, House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee's Summit, said he didn't think a complete repeal of the referendum would be possible. 'I think we're all trying to come up with a plan, as I've said, that makes Missouri the most pro-life state it can be,' Patterson said in January. 'It's hard because we want to make it as pro-life as possible but I don't think the voters would pass a repeal, so we have to find something that's in between.' Edmonds speaks out after leaving Cardinals broadcasts Patterson stated that he established a working group to determine the specifics of the plan, acknowledging the challenges ahead and anticipating a debate on the initiative later in the session. 'Whatever we do has to go back to the voters,' Patterson said. 'We just don't know what that vehicle is yet and I think things will coalesce during the middle of session and then the finale will happen at the end of session.' This legislation also includes a provision prohibiting public funds from being used to pay for surgeries, hormones or drugs for transgender minors. 'Unfortunately, I think this is just the beginning; I don't think this is the last attack we will see this session on Amendment 3, the right to reproductive freedom. I think we will see more creative and different attacks, but the bottom line: they are unconstitutional under the right that we voted for and enshrined in the Missouri Constitution and the people of Missouri will continue to show up to prove that,' Schwarz said. The committee did not take any action on the legislation Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
