Following the ‘Pro-life’ legislation

This week, the Missouri House passed 15 bills, ranging in topics from prison policies to banking laws to medical information on driver’s licenses. But without a doubt the most high-profile bill passed was HB 126, which has been described as the strongest pro-life legislation in the nation.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Roe v. Wade Decision that abortion is legal in the United States. States are allowed to place restrictions and policies on how abortions are performed, but states cannot outright ban abortion. Currently, abortions in our state are only performed in St. Louis. But any clinic that wants to offer them that complies with existing laws on hygiene, hospital admitting privileges, etc. can open anywhere in our state. One is currently trying to open in Columbia.

HB 126 would establish several new limitations on abortions, including not allowing an abortion after a gestational age of 14 weeks, after a fetal heartbeat has started, after brainwaves are detected, or after the baby is capable of feeling pain. The bill also disallows an abortion just because the baby may have Downs Syndrome, and requires that if a minor wants an abortion both parents must be notified and at least one of them must consent. Lastly, the bill also says that all abortions will be illegal if the Supreme Court ever overturns the Roe v. Wade Decision.

The bill received five hours of the most serious and sober debate in the full House this year over two days. The pro-choice side argued that when the infant is still in the mother’s body the mother should be allowed to terminate it if she does not want to give birth. The pro-life side argued that birth is just another phase of life, like learning to walk or getting your first gray hair, and killing a person a few months before he/she is born is just as wrong as killing a person a few months after he/she is born. In the end, HB 126 passed 117-39, with every Republican and three Democrats voting for it. Five members were absent for the vote, who were all Democrat, a few of whom were known to be pro-life.

The bill now moves to the Senate for debate. Due to Senate rules, each senator has much more power than each state representative, and any one senator could try or threaten to filibuster the bill in an attempt to kill it. Time will tell if the bill dies in the Senate, is passed there in a more watered-down version, or is passed as is.