The Senator who decides what bills are debated in the state Senate threatens to use the nuclear option if minority Democrats don’t get out of the way on divisive Republican issues.
The issue is abortion and how long a woman should wait to get one after making an appointment. Ask the sponsor of a bill tripling the waiting time for a woman to have an abortion why he thinks 72 hours is better than 24, and David Sater of Cassville tells St. Louis Senator Jamillah Nasheed it seems like a good idea.
Sater compares the 72-hour waiting period to the time someone has to cancel a contract for buying a condo.
But Democratic Senator Paul LeVota of Independence says the bill is nothing more than campaign politics, cooked up by a conservative think tank.
He and other Democrats have talked Sater’s bill to the sidelines twice but the issue will be back a third time. The House has passed a 72-hour bill on a largely partisan vote. Floor leader Ron Richard threatens to cut off debate on that bill and other Republican priorities.
Richard hasn’t found out if the Republican caucus supports the idea, and he doubts the leader of the Senate, Tom Dempsey, would like it.
Nasheed says Republicans have no business being inside women’s wombs. She says they should concentrate on cutting taxes.
Democrats say there’s no doubt Governor Nixon will veto the bill if it gets through the legislature, setting up a veto override effort in September.
