Missouri has joined Utah and South Dakota to require women to wait 72 hours before getting an abortion. Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon
had vetoed the legislation, but both Republican-controlled houses of the state legislature
overrode him Wednesday night. In his veto message in July, Nixon had
decried the bill’s failure to make an exception for rape and incest victims:
“This extreme and disrespectful measure would unnecessarily prolong the suffering of rape and incest victims and jeopardize the health and wellbeing of women,” Gov. Nixon said. “By failing to include an exception for rape and incest, House Bill 1307 demonstrates a callous disregard for women who find themselves in horrific circumstances and would make Missouri one of just two states in the nation to take such an extreme step. Lengthening the already extensive waiting period serves no demonstrable purpose other than to create emotional and financial hardships for women who have undoubtedly already spent considerable time wrestling with perhaps the most difficult decision they may ever have to make.”
That's all true. And huzzah to him for using his authority to try to block the bill from becoming law. But including exceptions for rape and incest would not make this imposition on women's control over their own bodies deserving of approval. Here's Teddy Wilson writing at RH Reality Check:
Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said that the bill is further intrusion of politicians into Missourians’ personal lives.
“We all want women to have the information and support they need to make a carefully considered decision about a pregnancy—this law won’t do that,” McQuade said in a statement. “It will block access to safe, legal abortion and target women who already have the least access to medical care.”
Missouri's laws on abortion are already rotten. A woman must make two visits to an abortion provider. First to let it be known that she wants an abortion and then a return trip after waiting 24 hours to have the procedure. Since Missouri is one of the six states with one abortion clinic—the others are Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming—the average woman must travel a hundred miles to obtain this legal procedure in St. Louis. One in 10 women has to go 300 miles to do so.
For many then, the waiting period means the expense of an overnight stay. Make that three overnight stays, when the new law takes effect next month. There is the expense of travel, of a hotel, of child care, of taking time off work. For an affluent woman, that's just a hassle. For a poor woman, the costs can be an insurmountable obstacle or at least delay her in getting an abortion as she gathers the money needed to make it happen. Later abortions increase the risk of complications.
Adding insult to injury, the state already mandates that women undergo biased counseling before they obtain an abortion. Included in that "counseling" is the message that "the life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being." The new law requires that, in addition to the fact-challenged brochure now provided each woman seeking an abortion, the state Department of Health and Senior Services must create a video containing the same bogus material.
All part of the forced-birthers' relentless assault in state after state on women's inherent right to make their own decisions about their pregnancies.