Bill seeks to end late-term abortions with help of fetus viability testing

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state legislature's pro life bill for the session seeks to end late-term abortions by including a fetus viability test if the pregnancy is more than 20 weeks along.

Rep. Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said the practice of late-term abortions is "barbaric" and often ends the life of a baby who has the ability to live outside of the womb. While Missouri law has what he termed a "legal framework" to stop late term abortions, but he said the current Missouri statute is vague and "doesn't have teeth."

Jones said his legislation creates a definition of viability of a fetus. He said case law supports a viability definition as the stage of fetal development when a physician can determine that the life of the unborn child can be sustained outside of the womb with or without artificial support.

The second part of Jones' bill defines when a late-term abortion can take place and the state of the mother's health that can trigger the need for the procedure. But Jones was careful to point out that while there are a number of mitigating circumstances, his bill would make changes that make it difficult for late-term abortions to take place.

"What it boils down to is ... if there is no medical emergency as defined, then, 20 weeks, plus viability equals no abortion shall be permitted," Jones told members of the House's Health Care Policy Committee at a hearing in the State Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

Jones sees his legislation is more of a tweak than a change to Missouri abortion law, saying he could have gone further with his legislation to ban all abortions in Missouri. But he said that under the current law of the land, such a change would not be feasible.

"I guess if I wanted to be in all the news headlines and have all the interviews done, I could do that," Jones said. "But that would be a bill that would not be constitutionally defensible. I think the best that we can do is ... make an argument that a bill is defensible under the Constitution or not."

The National Abortion Rights Action League does not believe Jones' bill is constitutional. Pamela Sumners, executive director of NARAL's Pro-Choice Missouri lobbying group, said the new definition of viability goes beyond the Supreme Court's latest ruling on the what the term means.

"We have changed the definition from one that says life can carry on indefinitely outside of the womb, to where it can be sustained," Sumners said. "The Supreme Court has said when there is meaningful life outside the womb ... meaningful life."

Late-term abortion constitutes less than 1 percent of all abortions performed in the country every year, and, Sumners said, it is almost always to save the health of the mother or because of the unborn child faces insurmountable health challenges. Such procedures may be the last resort of poor women who may have to save money to have a procedure performed, she added.

Missouri has the third most restrictive abortion laws in the country, Sumners said.

After a surprisingly short hearing in which Jones and just a few other witnesses testified for the bill and with Sumners the only witness testifying against, committee chair Rep. David Sater, R-Cassville, announced the committee would not take a vote on the legislation.       

Jones said his legislation is the latest bill in a long line of anti-abortion legislation that he said pro life legislators want to work on.

"We have many members of our (Republican) caucus who are very interested in issues of life and doing what we can to protect... the most innocent and most at risk life in our society," Jones said.

Despite pressure on Republicans to concentrate on economic issues, Jones said his caucus will also continue to focus on social issues that have been the backbone of Republican politics for years.

'You should never put aside certain tenants of your platform dependent upon the issue of the day," Jones said. "We have a comprehensive platform as conservative Republicans governing this majority, and second amendment issues and pro life issues remain a portion of (our) platform."