Missouri Senate Democrats secured a victory Tuesday evening in a deal with Republicans to ax provisions in an anti-abortion a bill that sought to open the door for lawsuits against anyone involved in an illegal abortion.
The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” is a top priority of anti-abortion lawmakers as the legislative session nears a close and primary campaign season approaches.
The measure was given first-round approval in the Senate following more than six hours of debate. Democrats persuaded the sponsor, state Sen. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, to remove the liability provisions and to add others they supported, including an expansion of the state’s maternal mortality review board.
At the start of the filibuster, state Sen. Patty Lewis, a Kansas City Democrat, accused Republicans of putting forward “yet another abortion ban bill.”
Hudson’s original bill would have allowed civil lawsuits against anyone involved in an unlawful abortion, including self-induced abortions. Opponents said it would impact medication abortions if Missourians vote to reinstate an abortion ban at the ballot box later this year.
Hudson first brought the bill up in the Senate in March but set it aside in the face of determined Democratic opposition. After gaining first-round approval by removing the most controversial provisions, a vote to send it to the House could come as early as Wednesday.
“Even after doing this, we have still been able to maintain the integrity and the purpose of the underlying bill,” Hudson said Tuesday. “To protect those children who survive an abortive attempt and make sure they’re given the same care as any other child born at the same gestational age.”
The House passed its version during the first week of February, including the civil liability provisions and has since passed out of a Senate committee.
On Tuesday, Democratic senators stalled a vote for four hours before Hudson presented the revised bill. For the next two hours, a handful of Republicans criticized the choices Hudson made in paring back the bill and the additions that it included.
The final version approved Tuesday evening would require any healthcare providers present at the time of an unsuccessful abortion to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life, health and comfort of the child.”
This legislation, supporters say, is a safeguard in the rare instance that a baby is born during a failed abortion. The Missouri constitution only protects the right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability, which is the point in pregnancy at which the baby can survive without extraordinary medical interventions.
The bill states that anyone who “knowingly performs or attempts to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive” can be charged with first-degree murder, creating the opportunity for health care providers to face the death penalty if they don’t provide life-saving care to a baby born after an attempted abortion.
To get the bill to a vote, Democrats added a provision broadening the scope of the state’s Pregnancy- Associated Mortality Review Board, originally proposed by state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat.
The board’s expanded duties would include studying the state’s maternal healthcare deserts, tracking the level of prenatal and postnatal care given to women who die in childbirth or postpartum and making recommendations to combat racial inequities in maternal deaths.
Republican leadership also agreed to tack on a provision from Lewis that allows victims to seek orders of protection against cyberstalkers and establishes the offense of “cyberharassment” and “cyberstalking.”
State Sen. Joe Nicola, a Republican from Grain Valley, joined state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, in declaring he would vote against the bill after accusing Democrats of successfully taking over the legislation.
“You know, the party on the other side of the aisle, I like watching them work,” Nicola said. “They’re masters over there. They’re masters with their amendments.”
In March, when the bill was first brought to the Senate floor, Hudson said he didn’t believe the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 went far enough in protecting a baby born after a failed abortion.
Missouri’s “incredibly liberal abortion law” was a reason for urgency, Hudson said at the time.
Democrats have argued the bill is unnecessary because state law already prohibits infanticide. They accuse Republicans of using the bill to win over constituents in an election year.
Critics of the bill have also raised concerns about how it could affect families who choose to induce early labor following a fatal fetal diagnosis — a procedure which falls under the definition of abortion in the medical field — and the providers caring for them.
State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from Kirkwood, said she’s spoken with several doctors who expressed their discomfort with any laws that leave lawyers helping them navigate how they can or can’t practice medicine, causing “confusion and chaos.”
Sponsors of the “born-alive” legislation have said their intention is that palliative care wouldn’t be affected.
This story was originally published by The Missouri Independent.
