Objections are raised, still a bill which would further restrict abortions in Missouri advances in the state senate.
Opponent Joan Bray, a Democratic senator from St. Louis, says the year-in-year-out battle to further restrict abortions sends a message to women in the state.
“Women have been beat up on in Missouri on this subject far more brutally than in most states,” Bray says during Senate floor debate on SB 793.
The bill has won initial approval. It would modify the state’s informed consent requirements for an abortion. The Department of Health would develop new printed materiel about abortions to be presented to a woman, detailing the risks of the procedure and the physiological characteristics of an unborn child. The woman would also be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound of the fetus and listen to the heartbeat, if it is audible. Information about the possible pain to the fetus an abortion inflicts must also be included.
Opponents say the bill intrudes on the doctor/patient relationship and adds many new burdensome and unnecessary requirements to the informed consent process.