The Missouri House has passed legislation to ban so-called “late term” abortions in the Show-Me State.
The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks unless two doctors verify that a fetus is either not viable or is a medical threat to the mother.
The sponsor, House Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones (R, Eureka), called abortions after 20 weeks a “barbaric practice that puts mothers at risk.”
"You are slaughtering an infant...that's what it is," Jones said during floor debate. "These children could just as easily be born and placed in the NICU down at Children’s Hospital or Barnes Jewish, and I’ve seen them…they’re little, precious, pieces of life, and they live...because at that point, they ARE viable!"
State Representative Stacey Newman (D, Richmond Heights) argued that the bill does nothing to protect women.
“This bill is about government intrusion into personal family medical situations that each one of us hope(s) that we never, ever have to face," Newman said.
The bill passed 119 to 38, with 15 Democrats joining with the GOP majority in voting “yes.” It now goes to the Missouri Senate.
