JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature has approved a ban on abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, the latest in a rapid-fire…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature has approved a ban on abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, the latest in a rapid-fire series of states enacting the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion measures.
Such «heartbeat laws» ban abortions at a point in a pregnancy when supporters say a heartbeat is regularly detectable and opponents say is before many women even know they’re pregnant.
The only exception to the new rule, which passed 110-44, would be in the case of medical emergencies — like a mother in danger of dying or irreversible impairment of bodily function — but not in cases of rape or incest.
The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who is expected to sign it.
«My administration will execute the laws the legislature passes,» Parson told reporters and abortion opponents at a campaign-style rally in his office Wednesday evening. «And this pro-life administration will not back down.»
Friday’s legislative maneuvering played out against a backdrop of emotional protests as opponents disrupted debate and marched through the halls of the state Capitol.
At one point, dozens of abortion-rights supporters were told to leave the House visitors’ galleries after chanting of “when you lie, people die” and “women’s rights are human rights.
