Missouri’s state senate faced down an unusual protest today, as women dressed to match Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” came into the state building hoping to send a message.
The message, inspired by actions that took place in Texas, met with a few roadblocks, though, as Missouri Republicans strenuously objected to their attire, in a perfect example of male legislators hoping to dictate to the women present decorum.
The protest comes as the Missouri legislature considers numerous bills and amendments aimed at eliminating access and a year where Rep. Mike Moon declared that sperm are like tadpoles.
The fight has escalated in recent weeks, with Missouri Republicans moving to try and eliminate all services in the state through amendments and rule changes. While the US Supreme court ruled 5-3 against many of these activities (Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 2016) Missouri Republicans are undeterred.
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Last week's ruling, however, is unlikely to deter state legislators from pursuing further abortion restrictions. Around the same time that Sachs issued the April 3 memo announcing his intent to grant the injunction, two Republican state senators, frustrated that they were unable to block a St. Louis nondiscrimination ordinance protecting women that are pregnant, use birth control, or have had an abortion, took time during a discussion of tax hikes benefiting the state zoo to joke that women should go to the St. Louis Zoo for abortions, suggesting that it was "safer" and better regulated than the state's lone abortion provider.
Meanwhile, shortly after Republicans in Congress moved to defund Planned Parenthood, state Republican Rep. Robert Ross proposed an amendment to House Bill 11—an appropriations bill for the Missouri Department of Social Services—that would allow the state to prevent "abortion services" providers from receiving state family planning funding. This could potentially include any group that provides even abortion referrals upon request. Allison Dreith, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri characterized the amended bill as having the potential to create "a public health crisis in our state, if family planning clinics, hospitals, and Planned Parenthood are defunded from Medicaid reimbursement." The measure passed the House on a 107-39 vote and is now with the Senate.
But for today, they will face a sea of red cloaked reminders of the environment they aim to create.