Planned Parenthood Asks Court to Strike Missouri’s Pro-Life Laws Under New Abortion Amendment

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On Tuesday, voters in Missouri narrowly passed an amendment writing abortion into the Missouri Constitution. On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood filed a sweeping lawsuit challenging virtually all of Missouri’s good, pro-life laws.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider, and the organization consistently opposes policies that protect women and unborn children from abortion.

Wednesday’s lawsuit challenges Missouri’s many pro-life measures, including the state’s good laws that:

  • Prohibit abortion except to save the life of the mother
  • Require abortionists to give women information about abortion’s risks, consequences, and alternatives
  • Require abortionists to give women 72 hours to consider all options before an abortion
  • Protect unborn children from being aborted due to their race or sex or due to being at risk for Down Syndrome
  • Require abortion facilities to be licensed and inspected by the state
  • Require abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges in case the woman experiences complications from abortion
  • Outline how abortion data is recorded and reported to the state for statistical purposes
  • Prohibit telemed abortions in Missouri
  • Prevent healthcare professionals other than doctors from performing abortions
  • Require abortionists to maintain various plans and agreements for handling abortion complications

This is not the first time pro-abortion groups have challenged commonsense abortion regulations in court. Planned Parenthood and the ACLU challenged reasonable pro-life laws in Ohio after an abortion amendment passed in that state last year.

Informed-consent requirements and facility inspection standards protect women from dangerous abortion practices, but those are the kinds of laws pro-abortion groups are challenging in court.

It does not seem likely that Missouri voters want unreported abortions happening in unlicensed facilities, but the state is facing that possibility now that this abortion amendment has passed.

It’s worth pointing out that Arkansas’ pro-life laws are very similar to Missouri’s — meaning that an abortion amendment in Arkansas likely would jeopardize the very same good laws.

All of this serves as a warning about what can happen when states write sweeping, pro-abortion language into their state constitutions.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Pro-Lifers See Three Big Wins, Two Big Losses on Election Night

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Little Rock, Ark. – On Tuesday, pro-lifers around the U.S. saw three major victories and two significant losses regarding abortion measures on state ballots.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “Abortion measures were on the ballots in ten states on Tuesday night, and there were three major, pro-life victories and two significant losses. Voters defeated pro-abortion measures in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida. Pro-lifers lost in Missouri and Arizona. Abortion measures were on the ballot in other states where it is already legal, but the votes for those measures simply solidified abortion’s legality there.”

Cox said he believes Tuesday night’s votes show there is strong opposition to abortion in America. “Pro-abortion groups have claimed there is strong support for these measures at the ballot box, but these elections show that isn’t the case. Three states rejected abortion, and the Missouri abortion amendment failed in all but ten of Missouri’s counties. Pro-abortion groups in Missouri spent several million dollars on their campaign, and they still barely passed their abortion amendment. That speaks volumes.”

Cox said pro-lifers are prepared to stop efforts to legalize abortion in Arkansas. “Abortion hurts women, and it ends the lives of innocent unborn children. Arkansas is the most pro-life state in America, and our laws protect women and unborn children from abortion except to save the life of the mother. Pro-lifers strongly opposed the Arkansas Abortion Amendment that failed to make the ballot this year, and we are ready to defeat any similar effort to weaken our pro-life laws in the coming year.”

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Abortion Exceptions for Rape and Incest Hurt Women and Unborn Children

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Arkansas’ lawmakers will begin pre-filing legislation in less than two weeks, and many people are looking ahead to the 2025 session in Little Rock.

There is a good possibility that pro-abortion groups will work to weaken Arkansas’ pro-life policies — such as adding exceptions for rape or incest to the state’s pro-life laws.

Since 2019, there has been a lot of discussion about putting exceptions for rape and incest in Arkansas’ pro-life laws.

Rape and incest are evil.

A woman who is raped is a victim in every sense of the word, and only about 2%–5% of all abortions are performed because of rape of incest.

In light of that, it’s easy for some people to justify abortion in these situations.

But there are serious problems with permitting abortion in cases of rape or incest.

Below are a few points to consider.

The Unborn Baby is Totally Innocent

An unborn boy or girl has no control over how he or she was conceived.

These are living human beings.

It is not right to kill an unborn baby because the baby’s father was a rapist.

Abortion Helps Conceal Crimes Like Rape, Incest and Sex Trafficking

Sexual predators sometimes coerce their victims into having abortions to conceal rape or incest.

In 2016 abortionist Ulrich Klopfer admitted to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board that he once performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Illinois who had been raped by her uncle. Dr. Klopfer did not report the crime to law enforcement.

He let the girl go home to her parents who knew about the rape and had decided not to prosecute. As far as we can tell, that girls’ uncle was never brought to justice.

In 2014 researchers Laura Lederer and Christopher Wetzel found 55% of sex-trafficking survivors surveyed reported at least one abortion, and 29.9% reported multiple abortions. Lederer and Wetzel concluded,

The prevalence of forced abortions is an especially disturbing trend in sex trafficking. . . . One victim noted that “in most of [my six abortions,] I was under serious pressure from my pimps to abort the babies.” Another survivor, whose abuse at the hands of her traffickers was particularly brutal, reported seventeen abortions and indicated that at least some of them were forced on her.

Abortion helps conceal evil crimes like these.

Rapists Have No Legal Claim to Their Victims or Their Victims’ Children

Under Arkansas law, a rapist has no legal claim to his victim or the children of his victim.

That means a woman or girl who becomes pregnant because of rape can keep the child or put the child up for adoption, but she does not have to consult the rapist or share custody with him.

Arkansas law is very clear on that point.

Additionally, state courts can take other appropriate action to protect victims of rape or incest.

Abortion Does Not Heal the Harm That Rape and Incest Cause

Abortion doesn’t heal the wounds that rape or incest leave behind.

Abortion takes the life of an unborn baby, and it carries serious risks for the woman.

Abortion is not a quick fix. Its consequences are very serious.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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