An enhancement of the state informed consent abortion law has been passed by the House, but not before two representatives debate whether the US Supreme Court case establishing the right for a woman to have an abortion was "infamous".
Rep. Bob Onder (R-St. Louis) said he filed HB 1831 on January 22 nd , the 35 th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Onder called the landmark Supreme Court ruling infamous, a word that caught the attention of Rep. Terry Witte (D-Vandalia).
"You indicated you thought the decision in Roe vs. Wade was infamous," Witte inquired of Onder during House floor debate.
"Absolutely," Onder replied.
Onder argued that the Supreme Court exercised judicial tyranny in reaching the decision that overturned abortion laws in all 50 states. Onder said the states should have been allowed to determine how to handle abortion.
Witte disagreed. Witte countered that without the Supreme Court ruling, abortions would still be illegal in most states and, he added, that if they would be illegal, they would be unsafe.
Both Onder and Witte are lawyers. Onder also is a physician.
The House has approved the bill, a combination of HB 1831 and HB 1472 on a 113-33 vote. It now moves to the Senate. The main feature of the bill would create the crime of coercing a woman to have an abortion. It also would require abortion clinics to offer women information about alternatives to abortion and about the fetus.