Missouri May Become the First State Without an Abortion Clinic
November 8, 2019
Last May, Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson signed a strict abortion law that said abortion would be banned after eight weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The state already makes it difficult for patients to obtain abortions; it requires patients wait 72 hours between their first visit and abortion procedure. The ban was later blocked by Senior Judge Howard F. Sachs, but the health department is now refusing to renew the license for the only legal abortion clinic in the state. As a result, Planned Parenthood, which owns the St. Louis abortion clinic, filed a lawsuit. If the decision comes back in favor of revoking the clinics’ license, Missouri will be the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since 1974, the year after the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision.
Missouri could become the first state with no health center to provide safe, legal abortion. So, we’re suing. #EmergencyResponse #StopTheBans pic.twitter.com/29GxtlHpJE
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) May 28, 2019
“I feel like not having a single abortion clinic in the entire state of Missouri puts a lot of women in a crisis, and in some cases, even in danger if they have a pregnancy threatening to their life,” said senior Grace Anthony.
Roe v. Wade is a 1973 Supreme Court case that declared access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right. According to Planned Parenthood, today 73% of Americans don’t want to see it overturned. The decision in Roe was not the start of abortions occuring in America, but rather it allowed people to access safe and legal abortions. It is a fact that abortion is health care, and before this health care was legal and safe, illegal abortions caused at least 1 in 6 pregnancy-related deaths.
“I am Pro Life for my body, but I am Pro Choice for yours. I believe it is a choice that women should be able to make the decision based on her circumstances. I have my beliefs about it but I know not everybody thinks as I do, which is why I believe having access available is important,” said senior Ashley Mackinnon.
On the other side of the argument, pro life advocates argue surrounding the moral, legal, and religious status of abortions. Pro lifers argue that all humans, even the unborn, have the right to life. The governor of Missouri, being Republican, is pro life. Thus, came about the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act put in place last May. In a tweet, Parson said he would like to make Missouri “the most Pro Life state in the country.”
It's time to make Missouri the most Pro-Life state in the country! Thanks to leaders in the House and Senate, we are one vote away from passing one of the strongest #ProLife bills in the country – standing for life, protecting women’s health, and advocating for the unborn.
— Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) May 15, 2019
“Being raised Catholic, I believe abortion is a issue of morality and because the fetus is an innocent human being. I think this could be a huge step towards respecting life in our country,” said Senior Amelia Traviesa.
During the actual hearing, which happened in the last week of October, representatives from both Planned Parenthood and the Parsons Administration testified. The health department said that it did not renew the clinics’ license because Planned Parenthood failed to comply with multiple health regulations. However, Planned Parenthood’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, played a video deposition of a health department official who indicated there were no signs the clinic was unsafe. As the decision is awaited, the clinic was granted a preliminary injunction to allow the facility to keep performing abortions. A decision is not anticipated until February of 2020 at the earliest.
Mrs. J Meyer • Dec 27, 2019 at 2:47 pm
Since this article appeared in print, I have pondered its contents and my responsibility as the only female faculty member who teaches Religion full time here at AHN. While I understand the Administration’s desire to have all students freely voice their opinions on current events and thus Achona becomes a vehicle for doing so, as a Catholic and an educator, I, too, must use my voice to express my disagreement with the contents of this article and some of the opinions expressed and quoted within it. I am a mother, a grandmother, and a step-great grandmother. I have had friends or relatives who have been pregnant in extremely difficult and in some cases life threatening circumstances, have given birth to children with disabilities, have carried babies to term despite having been raped, have given a child up for adoption, or have themselves been adopted. I also know women who have had abortions. Of all those listed above, the only who have regretted their decision or actions taken were those who had abortions. I was a Senior in high school in January 1973 when Roe v Wade occurred. This landmark decision by the Supreme Court is a scourge on our nation and grieves the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. Millions of human beings, the most vulnerable of all being babies in the womb, have died because it is legal to kill them. This “choice” has denied us all what these wonderful human beings could have achieved to make our lives and world better. No child is a mistake; every child is meant to exist by the will of a loving God who became flesh to save us all through his death and resurrection. Before labeling what occurs at Planned Parenthood Women’s “Health” Care, I suggest each person do some detailed research about what is really behind the big business of abortion and how detrimental it has been these past almost fifty years to women’s “health” (physical, emotional, spiritual) and to our society in its downward spiral into a culture of death instead of a culture of life. As women, we need to encourage our sisters who feel compelled to end their pregnancies to instead say “yes” to the life of the unborn and support them in what the “yes” will entail afterwards. Here are Pregnancy Centers of the Diocese of St. Petersburg: : https://www.dosp.org/life/pregnancy-centers/ So, too our Diocese offers healing resources for those men and women who have been wounded by abortion. Project Rachel, a ministry to those who have been involved in abortion, is a diocesan-based network of specially trained priests, religious, counselors, and laypersons who provide a team response of care for those suffering in the aftermath of abortion. In addition to referring for Sacramental Reconciliation, the ministry provides an integrated network of services, including pastoral counseling, support groups, retreats and referrals to licensed mental health professionals. It is open to people of all faiths or no faith. http://www.dosp.org/help-is-available-for-women-men-wounded-by-abortion/