JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s governor on Thursday shot down a call for a special session by two Democrats seeking to protect access to contraception and a physician’s ability to treat ectopic pregnancies, which are not viable.
“No, not a special session, because you’re talking a very complicated issue that’s going to take time to figure out,” Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, said in response to a reporter’s question, KTVI (Channel 2) reported Thursday.
Parson signed the state’s current abortion law in 2019, and it took effect June 24, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Missouri’s law outlaws abortions in all cases except medical emergencies.
Observers have debated how the law affects birth control, with Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt issuing a statement in June saying Plan B and other forms of contraception were still legal in Missouri.
Questions have also swirled about what constitutes a medical emergency, with hospital officials wondering if law enforcement would second-guess their medical decisions.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, specifically mentioned concerns over ectopic pregnancies, which threaten the mother’s life, in her call this week for Parson to summon lawmakers back to Jefferson City.
“Bureaucrats and attorneys don’t need to be the ones deciding on what is life-threatening,” Parson said Thursday. “Doctors need to have a seat at that table and frankly they’re more qualified to be able to make that decision than anybody else is.
“I’ve got the ability to trust the doctors ... to make those decisions, you know, and I don’t know that there’s ever going to be a clear-cut answer on how to do that,” he said.
In response, Quade said Thursday the governor was issuing “vague assurances” instead of “bringing legal certainty to the right of Missourians to access and use birth control.”
“It’s nice to hear the governor finally say bureaucrats shouldn’t come between a patient and their health care provider, but he’s about three years too late after signing extreme legislation into law that does the exact opposite,” she said in a statement.
Parson’s comments followed the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ release Wednesday of a one-page document addressing questions about Missouri’s new abortion ban.
But the DHSS stressed it would not determine whether any abortion is legal, and that charging decisions would be left up to local prosecutors and the attorney general.
State law states medical emergencies are determined based on “reasonable medical judgment.”
“The practical challenge is the interpretation of the law — in real time and on the front lines of care — where clinical judgment matters,” Dave Dillon, spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, said Wednesday.
“The uncertainty of whether that judgment will be second-guessed is the challenge for physicians,” he said. “It is impossible to know in advance whether a prosecutor or member of law enforcement will agree about a clinician determination of risk to the life of the mother.”
Asked about the possibility of a special session on abortion, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, who was at the same event Thursday as Parson, called it a “bold step” from legislative Democratic leaders, but said she didn’t foresee anything coming of it.
“Don’t call a special session unless you have the votes, and right now in Missouri, we do not have the votes,” Jones said.
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