A pair of Missouri House bills would open the way for murder charges to be filed over abortions.
HB 1072 and HB 1417 are both entitled the “Missouri Prenatal Equal Protection Act.” It would allow prosecutors to charge both the mother and the doctor who performed the abortion with first-degree murder. Exceptions would be allowed for medical emergencies. State Rep. Burt Whaley, R-Stone County, is sponsoring HB 1417.
“We are the defenders of life. We hold in our hands the preservation and the sanctity of life,” Whaley said before the Mo. House Committee on Children and Families. “This bill announces that we will preserve life from conception.”
HB 1072 is sponsored by State Rep. Justin Sparks, R-Wildwood.
House Minority Floor Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, opposed the bills during the same public hearing.
“So, what you’re talking about is a fully formed human life being murdered outside the womb, versus what we’re talking about here, which is sometimes at certain stages of development, simply a cluster of cells,” Aune said.
A committee vote on the bills has not yet been scheduled.
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