Missouri lawmakers say abortion bills not top goal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After enacting one of the nation's longest abortion-waiting periods, Missouri's Republican-dominated Legislature doesn't appear intent on pushing further abortion restrictions during its 2015 session.

State lawmakers have filed fewer than a dozen bills related to abortion in advance of the annual session that starts Jan. 7, but legislative leaders mentioned none of them as a priority during recent interviews. Instead, they are more focused on education and economic issues.

In September, lawmakers overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon to enact a law requiring physicians to wait 72 hours after consulting with a woman before performing an abortion. With an even greater veto-proof supermajority secured during the November elections, Republicans are in a position to pass bills without having to seek compromise with Nixon or the Democrats. But they don't appear to have plans to use that power to enact additional pro-life legislation in the upcoming session.

Republicans want to reduce the number of abortions in Missouri, "but we don't have a specific policy initiative this year," Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said in an interview earlier this month.

So far, eight bills dealing with abortion have been filed.

Most of the proposed measures for next session have been less hotly contested than the 72-hour wait requirement, although one bill that would require a father's permission for abortions stirred controversy last week.

Lee said a Senate bill for annual health inspections of abortion clinics -- sponsored by Sen. Wayne Wallingford of Cape Girardeau -- might have the best chance at becoming law.

Several other bills seek to increase parental consent necessary for minors to terminate a pregnancy, either by requiring written permission from both parents or that both parents be notified.

Another would enact protections for groups that encourage alternatives to abortions. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rocky Miller, R-Tuscumbia, includes broad shields for any center or group that counsels pregnant women on options other than abortion, such as adoption.

The state and municipalities would be "pre-empted from enacting, adopting, maintaining, or enforcing any order, ordinance, rule, regulation, policy, or other similar measure that prohibits, restricts, limits, controls, directs, interferes with, or otherwise adversely affects an alternatives-to-abortion agency," the bill reads.

Democrats have not yet filed any abortion-related legislation, and several have said their focus instead is on expanding access to health care.

M'Evie Mead, director of statewide organizing for Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri, said there likely also are Republicans who also want to redirect attention from abortion to jobs and the economy.

Jill Schupp, a Democratic representative from Creve Coeur recently elected to serve in the Senate, said pro-life bills are more common during election years to rev up voters.

Schupp campaigned in part on her support for abortion rights during the November election. But 2015 is not an election year.

Sam Lee, a lobbyist for the pro-life group Campaign Life Missouri, said major abortion-related bills typically come in waves.

"Because we had such a big year in 2014," Lee said, "I'm not sure how much we'll be able to get done in 2015."

Abortion bills are: HB 81, HB 99, HB 124, HB 131, HB 151, HB 182, HB 190 and SB 33.

Online:

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

Associated Press writer David A. Lieb contributed to this report. Follow Summer Ballentine at: https://www.twitter.com/esballentine