Missouri becomes the latest state to pass an extreme abortion bill. Today it was approved by the state House, earlier in the week it passed the Senate. This state’s bill bans abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which is more or less a complete ban. The only exception is when a mother’s health is at great risk.
The debate over the bill became emotional when Democratic State Rep. Keri Ingle read a letter on the House floor that she wrote to her 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter:
“I came here to fight for your rights, Hattie. Rights your brother will never have threatened. Rights to make the most intimate, intricate decisions anyone could make and no one should be making on your behalf. I have sat with little girls not much older than you and I have listened to them talk about people they trusted hurting them, stealing their innocence and trust in the world. I’ve held their hands as they cried and blamed themselves.”
Watch her full remarks here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, one Republican representative, a former law enforcement officer said:
“Most of my rapes were not the gentlemen jumping out of the bushes that nobody had ever met. That was one or two times out of one hundred. Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes, which were all terrible.”
After Democratic Rep. Raychel Proudie said, “There is no such thing as consensual rape,” Hovis later said he misspoke.
One Republican who was a yes, changed his vote in the end.
People are already protesting outside the Governor’s office asking him to veto the bill, but Republican Mike Parson has said he will sign it.
