Despite efforts to shut it down, St. Louis Planned Parenthood
is the only clinic still performing abortions in Missouri.
'I'm more pro-life than you are.' 'Nuh-uh, I'm more pro-life than you are.' The only way one of us can eventually win is if we pass a nine-month waiting bill."
—Missouri state Rep. Chris Molendorp
Last week, both houses of the Missouri legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of one of the toughest abortion laws in the nation. Almost all the Republicans and many Democrats voted for the override of the bill that was first passed in May. Next month, therefore, Missouri will become the third state—joining South Dakota and Utah—to mandate a three-day waiting period for an abortion. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. The state already had a 24-hour waiting period plus other restrictions on abortion that have helped force the closure of all but a single clinic where women can obtain the procedure.
Molly Redden at Mother Jones reports that a few moderate Republicans who tried to persuade some of the more flexible GOP lawmakers to change their minds said they didn't want to vote for the override, but felt they had no choice:
When cornered, some GOP lawmakers made a confession. "They said, 'I don't actually want to vote for this bill,'" recalls Linda Rallo, an alderwoman who led the team that buttonholed Republicans. "'But if it comes to the floor, I'm going to vote for it.'"
Republican state Rep. Chris Molendorp, who opposed the bill, heard similar admissions from his GOP colleagues. In a closed-door meeting of the Republican caucus before the vote, Molendorp argued that the bill most of his colleagues were about to vote for was unreasonably cruel. [...]
Rallo fears this bill identifies the GOP with a "Todd Akin agenda." "It makes it harder for moderate candidates to get broad, statewide support," she says. "And a lot of women like me are feeling like there's not a place for them in the Republican Party … They take our money and our time but they don't want our opinion."
Wow. Eyes finally wide open. Yes, there really is a GOP war on women, Ms. Rallo. The message Rallo and other somewhat reasonable Republicans are getting is: Enlist or else.
Saying they had no choice on how to vote on the override of this dreadful law is sickeningly ironic. Courageous, principled lawmakers always have a choice. It's the women they've imposed the newest restriction on who don't.