Missouri House advances 'personhood' legislation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri measure backers say will protect the unborn and opponents say would ban abortion in the state received initial approval Tuesday in the House.

House members voted 112-36 Tuesday for the proposal, which still needs a second vote to move to the Senate. The deadline to pass legislation is May 13 -- the time restraints that could make it a challenge to approve the measure.

If approved by the Legislature, the proposal by Ash Grove Republican Rep. Mike Moon would ask voters to decide whether to add "unborn human children at every stage of biological development" to a state constitutional provision that protects people's "right to life."

"We're killing kids so fast, it is insane," said Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, during Tuesday debate. "The epidemic of abortion is so out of control. It is time we do something to put a stop to it."

Democratic opponents in the House said if enshrined in the Missouri Constitution, the measure would ban abortion, including in cases of rape, incest and in which the life of the mother is at risk. Democrats also said it could bar contraception, which some Republicans disputed.

"Do you believe that it's just or compassionate to force a woman who's been raped to have the child of the man who raped her?" said Kansas City Democratic Rep. Lauren Arthur.

Dexter Republican Rep. Tila Hubrecht said she asked her doctor "to save the baby, no matter the cost" before she received an emergency cesarean section. She also said she's met people conceived by rape and that "there's a reason for their life."

"Sometimes bad things happen, and they're horrible things," she said. "But sometimes God can give us a silver lining through the birth of a child."

Alison Dreith, executive director of the Missouri branch of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the measure is unconstitutional and likely would face court challenges.

Similar proposals have failed in other states.

North Dakota voters in 2014 rejected an amendment that would have declared in the state constitution "the inalienable right to life of every human being at every stage of development must be recognized and protected." The Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2012 ruled a proposal, which never made it to voters, to grant "personhood" to human embryos would be an improper ban on abortion.

Personhood legislation is HJR 98.

Online:

House: http://www.house.mo.gov

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