Abortion bill deal appears to be in the works in Missouri Senate
JEFFERSON CITY — Never count out an abortion bill in the Missouri Legislature.
This year’s abortion bill, which would strengthen existing waiting period laws and add the crime of coercing an abortion, is back to life in the Missouri Senate. The same bill never made it to the Senate floor last year, and it was filibustered earlier this session.
But a group of senators have been meeting overtime in Sen. Charlie Shields’ office the past couple of weeks to come up with a compromise piece of legislation that would appease anti-abortion Republicans and convince Democrats who support abortion rights to not filibuster the bill.
The deal, according to a substitute version of the bill that has not yet been offered on the floor, would get rid of the portion of the bill that creates the crime of “coercing” an abortion. Critics of that language said it could actually lead to criminalization of parental advice to children who become pregnant, based on how the bill was worded.
On the Senate floor, Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, said Democrats have made an offer to Republicans pushing the bill that would allow the bill to pass. The other option that has been talked about is for Senate Republicans to call the previous question, which, if they had the votes, would cut off debate. The procedure is used all the time in the House but is rare in the Senate and hasn’t been used once last session or this session.
The new version of the bill would add to the information that must be given to women who seek abortions, and it would add language that says an abortion cannot be coerced. But it would not create a new crime of coercing an abortion.
Last night at about 10 p.m., Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, brought up the old version of the bill for discussion, and various senators talked about the compromise that was under negotiation.
Senators discussed the legislation and negotiations for about an hour and then pulled the bill back and adjourned.
“Never count out an abortion bill in the Missouri Legislature.”
That about says it all, doesn’t it?
Unemployment is through the roof, people are losing their homes, people–living people–are dying because they don’t have health care…and what does the Missouri legislature focus on?
We have to have the most useless state legislature in the country. I kid you not. How many jobs has this state lost because of these crackpots in the legislature? How many opportunities have we lost?
Same thing will happen to this bill as has happened to the others. In the meantime, jobs are being lost, people are losing their homes, or dying unnecessarily.