JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Republican lawmakers in the Missouri Senate vowed to keep fighting against a voter-backed abortion rights amendment that passed in November.
At a news conference outside of her office, Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, spoke before a line of GOP lawmakers who made their pitch to circumvent the changes made to the Missouri Constitution with the passing of Amendment Three.
“Last week’s ruling is exactly what we warned would happen,” she said in response to a Jackson County judge’s ruling that state license requirements were discriminatory.
The decision came after a lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood challenging the licensing process for providers who administer abortion medication.
“Amendment 3 is opening the door to dangerous, unregulated abortion facilities with zero accountability,” O’Laughlin said. “By striking down Missouri’s licensing requirements, the court has prioritized the abortion industry over women’s safety.”
Other Republican senators spoke on Friday’s ruling.
“Due to the judge’s ruling, due to spending millions of dollars that came from out of state—$3.5 (million) came from other nations—we now have abortion that is on demand at any stage in the pregnancy,” Sen. Nick Schroer, R-St. Charles County, said.
Schroer added it is the duty of GOP legislators to “stand in the way of the intrusions that are happening with our constituents’ life, liberty and happiness.”
The GOP lawmakers huddling at the podium pointed to several pieces of legislation filed in the House and the Senate as “common sense measures” their caucus is working on together.
“As legislators, we cannot sit back and do nothing,” Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair, added. “We must take action, and we are going to take action.”
With Amendment 3, the Missouri Constitution was amended to:
- Establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid;
- Remove Missouri’s ban on abortion;
- Allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient;
- Require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care; and
- Allow abortion to be restricted or banned after Fetal Viability except to protect the life or health of the woman
House Democrats filed new legislation last week to fend off attacks from Republicans. House Minority Leader Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, filed House Bill 1304, which she says will bring state laws in line with the Constitution.
“Missouri voters have spoken loud and clear on the issue of abortion access,” she said in a statement.
In a statement Monday from the CEO and President of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, Margot Riphagen, obtained by our partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, she said that the clinic will be adding in abortion services this week. The Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Kansas City resumed abortion services over the weekend.