Democrats are asking Gov. Mike Parson to call a special legislative session to clarify that Missouri’s stringent new anti-abortion law doesn’t prohibit other treatments and medication. It’s a reasonable ask, because the new law is so vaguely worded that medical providers are uncertain about the legality of even routine birth control or potentially life-saving procedures during problem pregnancies.
Since Parson has already announced a yet-unscheduled special session for later this year to address tax cuts, it wouldn’t even require any extra travel for lawmakers to conduct a parallel session regarding the abortion law. Would Parson really like the look of legislators gathering in Jefferson City to pass out tax cuts while refusing to address the potentially dangerous quandaries they’ve created for women?
The law as written outlaws all abortions “except in cases of medical emergency.” A doctor who is brought up on charges has the “burden of persuasion” that it was a legitimate medical emergency. Should that defense fail, penalties include loss of medical license and up to 15 years in prison.
The term “medical emergency” is squishy enough in itself to give pause, especially given Missouri’s radicalized political environment. Can anyone assume good-faith restraint by all prosecutors, given the tenor of their legislative allies in the forced-birth movement?
Some of the same lawmakers who created this law have recently pursued even more extreme ideas, like hindering women’s ability to seek abortions out of state and prohibiting drug-induced abortions in cases of ectopic pregnancy — that is, when a fertilized egg lodges outside the uterus, meaning the fetus cannot survive and the woman’s life could be endangered. These and other radical proposals could get new life with the end of Roe v. Wade.
The legality of some contraception also remains in doubt, to the point that one Missouri hospital system last month briefly stopped providing emergency contraception. Anti-choice advocates like Attorney General Eric Schmitt have assured critics that the law won’t affect contraception but, again, good faith cannot be assumed.
Schmitt, a U.S. Senate candidate, has already shown a willingness to risk lives in his politically motivated war on pandemic-safety measures. And he certified Missouri’s full abortion ban literally minutes after Roe’s demise, then took to Twitter to boast that Missouri was the first state to do so. This is one of the public officials whom women must now assume won’t push the boundaries of this poorly written law?
There’s a simple way to ease the legitimate fears that Missouri women have about another shoe dropping: Parson could, with the stroke of a pen, call a special session for the express purpose of either amending the existing law or passing followup legislation to provide more specificity that contraception and other legitimate treatment cannot be threatened. Should Parson refuse that simple step, it will confirm fears that Missouri’s assault on female biological autonomy — and, potentially, women’s lives — has just begun.
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