From Springfield’s KY3 News:
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Another round in the battle over abortion was fought Tuesday. The Missouri House began debating a bill that would make it illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion.
“How can people stand here and say that we should allow women to be coerced to have abortions?” said Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Pratt, the second most powerful Republican in the House. “This bill allows a woman a private consultation with a doctor without the potential abuser in the room, to go through the issues, to make sure they’re not being coerced.”
To coerce is defined as to compel by force or intimidation.
Rep. Sara Lampe offered an amendment to exempt victims of rape and incest from the bill, to which Rep. Pratt said,
“We want to say everyone else can be free of coercion, but if you are a victim of rape or incest, we want you as a state to be coerced to have an abortion. That is ridiculous.”
Lampe’s amendment ultimately failed.
Debate was shut off after about 30 min. but it is expected to come back soon as they continue to perfect it before the final vote. You can check out live debate on the house floor at house.mo.gove. The bill is being handled as HB 46 & 434 after a house committee combined Cynthia Davis’ HB 46 and Pratt’s HB 434. HB 46 is the primary bill.
The Senate version of the bill, Sen. Rob Mayer’s SB 264, was voted out of the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee yesterday.