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 Missouri senators overwhelmingly approved the legislation early on
Thursday and Republican Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign it into
law. He has said he would make Missouri "one of the strongest
pro-life states in the country."
In the bill, the only exclusion would be for medical emergencies. On
Wednesday, Alabama banned abortions at any time barring the same
exception.
Similar laws have been proposed in more than a dozen other states as
Republican-controlled legislatures push to restrict the rights of
women to terminate their pregnancies.
Renewed efforts to roll back Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme
Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 have been
emboldened by two judicial appointments by President Donald Trump
that have given conservatives a solid majority on the Supreme Court.
At a time when U.S. rates of abortion have sharply declined, the
issue has also reignited clashes between religious conservatives and
others who say pro-life protections should extend to the unborn, and
those, including civil libertarians, who see such measures as an
infringement on women's rights.
The sharpened national focus on the highly charged debate also
coincides with the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
HEALTH RISK?
U.S. abortion rights activists have vowed to go to court to block
enforcement of the Alabama law, which is scheduled to take effect in
six months.
Should the Missouri measure win final passage in the House it would
go into effect on Aug. 28, with or without the governor's signature.
Dubbed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn bill, it passed the Senate
on Thursday in a party-line vote, with 24 Republicans supporting it
and 10 Democrats opposed.
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In common with the Alabama bill, it would outlaw abortion even in
the case of rape or incest. Violations by doctors would be
punishable by prison sentences, though women who seek out the
procedure would not be subject to criminal prosecution.
The measure also would ban abortions altogether except for medical
emergencies should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
As of May, legislation to restrict abortions has been introduced in
at least 16 states this year. Governors in four have signed bills
into law banning the procedure if an embryonic heartbeat can be
detected, generally considered to be as early as six weeks.
Abortion-rights activists argue that rolling back 45 years of legal
precedent to criminalize abortion would expose many women to
dangerous health risks posed by illegal abortion providers.
Some Republicans pushing for abortion restrictions acknowledge they
are deliberately doing so to instigate court challenges that will
ultimately force the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.
It held that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment provides a
fundamental right to privacy that protects a woman's right to
abortion.
It also allowed states to place restrictions on the procedure from
the time a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. The opinion
stated that viability is usually placed at about seven months (28
weeks) but may occur earlier.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Writing and additional
reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Rich McKay in Atlanta;
editing by John Stonestreet)
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