By Anna Spoerre
The executive director of Abolish Abortion Missouri invoked the Bible’s Old Testament in his justification that anyone who has an abortion or assists someone in accessing an abortion should be charged with murder.
“God demands equal justice,” he said, “equal protection for all persons.”
For the second year in a row, state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would define “person” as including “every human being with a unique DNA code regardless of age, including every in utero human child at every stage of biological development from the moment of conception until birth.”
This approach to both criminalizing women who have abortions and forcing women who’ve been raped to continue a pregnancy has become increasingly unpopular among Missouri Republican leadership in recent years. Notably, none of the state’s leading anti-abortion groups testified on behalf of the legislation Monday.
“We are certainly at a political divide,” Moon told the Senate Emerging Issues and Professional Registration Committee on Monday. “It appears we are also at a scientific divide and also a spiritual divide.”
While Moon’s legislation faces long odds to land on the ballot, it does shed light on an ongoing debate among anti-abortion advocates over what abortion exceptions are justifiable, after Missourians overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban in November 2024.
“Some are saying that we are doing our best to save the children, especially the pre-born children, but I ask you this question: ‘how can we make that claim if we haven’t taken all the steps we can possibly take to make that happen?’” Moon said Monday “ … Will this committee determine that we’ve already done as much as we can do? Or will you endeavor to do even more?”
More than 20 people testified in support of the legislation, driving from all corners of the state to condemn abortion in any form. One man used his time before the microphone to sing Amazing Grace to the committee. Another emphasized that everyone in the room “already survived the thought of abortion” by being born. Multiple photos were shown of embryos, their names told to committee members by those testifying in support of their rights.
Moon’s amendment would create a total abortion ban and criminalize anyone involved in an abortion, from the providers to the person ending their pregnancy. Those found guilty of murder in Missouri can face the death penalty.
Last year, Moon stepped down from the Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee after he said he couldn’t support a proposed abortion ban amendment that included exceptions for survivors, but didn’t want to block the amendment from moving forward.
The legislature went on to approve a similar proposed amendment for the ballot. As a result, Missourians will be asked to again weigh in on abortion this November. The measure would re-instate an abortion ban, but this time adding exceptions for rape and incest survivors in addition to exceptions for medical emergencies. It would enshrine an existing ban gender-affirming health care for minors in the constitution and allow abortions during an ectopic pregnancy.
“We’re in a precarious situation in our state,” Moon told the committee, because while state law defines life as beginning at conception, the state constitution protects abortion access up until the point of fetal viability under the reproductive freedom amendment approved by about 52% of Missourians in 2024.
State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Kirkwood Democrat, raised concerns at Monday’s hearing about how Moon’s proposed amendment could threaten the legality of in-vitro fertilization in Missouri.
Through the IVF process, a woman’s eggs are retrieved from her body and then fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. Any embryos that result can then be either transferred to her uterus or frozen for future use.
McCreery referenced the confusion that played out in Alabama two years ago when its state supreme court ruled that frozen, fertilized embryos are “children.” IVF procedures temporarily came to a screeching halt and families were left in limbo as clinics tried to determine whether they could be found liable for wrongful death if an embryo was destroyed.
“Your language is very troubling, and it doesn’t just impact non-Christians,” McCreery said after relaying a story from one of her constituents who underwent IVF. “It impacts some very, very conservative families all around the state.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Moon said, adding that he plans to submit a committee substitute that would address her concerns.
“So you are OK then with families using fertility treatments?” she asked.
“Mmm hmm,” Moon said.
State Sen. Patty Lewis, a Kansas City Democrat, said she wasn’t sure Moon’s answer was reassuring, considering not every embryo that’s created ends up being implanted.
Hannah Strege, 27, joined her parents, Marlene and John Strege, in testifying in support of the proposal. Hannah Strege said she was the first frozen embryo to be adopted in the United States and then born.
“When my parents adopted me and my 19 siblings, we had already existed for nearly three years, not in a nursery, not in a home, not in storage, biologically human, yet treated under property law,” said Strege, whose parents for decades have advocated against abortion and embryonic stem cell research.
Sarah Hanks, a mother of 10 who gave birth to one of her daughters as the result of an embryo adoption, also testified in support.
“We valued her so much,” she said, “that we paid $18,000 for this whole adoption process, and we did it because we believe that her life was precious and that she deserved to be valued.”
Doug Mann, with Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action, was among a handful of people to testify against Monday’s legislation.
The proposal, he argued, “does not follow the science, nor does it follow medical standards, and it’s going to cause a lot of issues outside of just abortion.”
10 comments:
Fact: Abortion is murder. It is the intentional taking of someone's life.
Fact: Human embryos are human.
Fact: Human fetus' are human.
Fact: Most abortions are elective and not a result from incest or rape.
Fact: Millions of babies are aborted every year.
Fact: In rare medical emergencies, where the mother is potentially facing death, Doctors try to save both the lives of the baby and the mother. There isn't an instance where you MUST kill the baby in the womb to save the mother, that's preposterous. Doctors will always try to save both.
Fact: IVF results in the intentional destruction of several fertilized eggs, fertilized eggs are humans at the conception stage, which is when life begins, scientifically undisputed.
The pro-life movement ironically is the biggest hindrance of the abolition of abortion.
They pretend that women aren't smart enough to know that abortion is the act of killing a baby.
They push for exceptions like rape and incest, even though rape and incest babies are still human beings, abortion doesn't unrape someone, it only destroys another life. There are countless examples of people who are the result of rape and incest who grow up and live very fulfilling lives.
They are the ones that kill abolition bills, the pro-choice movement doesn't even have to lift a finger.
We either have equal protection under the law or we don't, and sadly a good chunk of the population has been brainwashed into thinking that babies aren't babies. Babies are just "clumps of cells", says the bigger clump of developing cells. "None of these people care about the babies AFTER they're born" says the purple haired single cat lady that spends all day virtue signaling on social media while Christians are out there adopting as many children as possible and giving time and money to charities that help take care of single moms and orphans.
Can't wait to hear the fully developed and intellectual responses to this, lol
Fact: 8:06 does not know the difference between fact, opinion, and falsehood.
Magic mike mustache with more rightwing nut buffoonery.
“In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Letters and Papers from Prison 1939-45
Maybe Mr Moon and all these other men, need to get a life and find something else to clutch their pearls over. Men never should be allowed any control over a woman’s body. These men do not have a basic understanding of how a woman’s body works, nor any scientific reasoning why lots of medical issues occur that require an abortion to save the life of a woman. This is about nothing more than controlling women. God gave women their own brains for a reason. I definitely know that Mr Moon and all of these men won’t be with myself or any other woman, when we stand in judgment upon our death. I am certain that God doesn’t and won’t ever need these men’s help, upon judgement day. It would be best if they were more concerned with their own judgment day, then anyone else’s.
10:06, just like clock work, I put out facts and a leftist's only retort is "derr that not tru!" with absolutely nothing to back their conclusion. lol
Keep living your own truth 10:06
The commenter at 8:06 and the Moon the Loon might make the perfect couple if they were so inclined.
No matter what their bibles say about it!
These so called religious types have been doing this ever since old testament days. That's what they think their bible tells them to do.
Sicker than a dog that ate the whole bag of dog food.
"The pro-life movement ironically is the biggest hindrance of the abolition of abortion. "
That's because some of them are violent killers themselves, and many of them are so extreme the taliban would be shocked.
6:03, 7:11, God help us, genuinely, if that is your conclusion in this matter.
Murder is murder whether the baby is inside the womb or outside of it. That's why these men care, and believe or not, millions of woman care as well. The Bible makes it clear that we should not murder, and abortion is murder, which is the intentional taking of someone's life.
You'd have to argue against science if you wanted to pretend that abortion isn't murder. Life begins at conception, new DNA is created, a unique human being. When left to its natural processes it continues to develop until it passes through the mother's birth canal. And guess what, it continues to develop for the next 20 years or so. You cannot say scientifically that a human embryo isn't human, or a human fetus isn't human, they are all humans in one stage of a very long development.
Please give one medical reason, especially in this day and age, why a doctor would have to intentionally kill a baby in the mother's womb in order to save a woman's life. You don't have one (keyword, in the mother's womb, not a freak ectopic pregnancy). Doctors aren't presented with a train track situation where they can only try to save one thing or the other, the mission is to always save both, which one or both can obviously fail, but the INTENTION is to save. You know how incredibly early they can keep babies alive outside of the womb now?
Your comment about judgment day is as logical as the rest of your statement. Nobody is going to have another man or woman standing with them on that day, it's going to be you and your creator, and he's going to be wondering why you are for the murder of the most innocent among us, when he has clearly stated in his word that not only is murder wrong, but there is an extra special kind of punishment put upon people that do wrong to the youngest among us.
The "u can't judge me, only God can judge me" logic comes from people that clearly haven't studied the word. God told us to judge with righteous judgement, he only said not to do it hypocritically (for example, a woman who has abortions herself telling other women to not have abortions). It is perfectly fine for men to push back against the wrongs in our culture, you can't tell me otherwise.
7:11, think about what you're saying, really think about it, because what you said couldn't be any more backwards. You are saying that people who are against child sacrifice, the murder of millions of innocent babies every year, are on the wrong side? THEY are the sick ones? Not the people intentionally killing millions of babies?
The vast majority of abortions are elective, only a tiny fraction are from rape and incest, which means the vast majority of women who choose to get an abortion are only doing it to avoid the consequences of their actions. An action that everyone knows can lead to pregnancy, it's how we reproduce, very common knowledge.
7:15, what made up fantasy world are you living in where people who are against murdering babies are the ones who are the violent killers, and are somehow worse than people that throw gays off buildings, are fine with rape, and force women to fully cover themselves and stone them to death whenever they determined that they stepped out of line?
Do you people hear yourselves? What is wrong with you all, seriously? Legitimately scary stupid out here. You all have yet to refute anything I have said and you can't back any of your points, but in your heads you have flipped reality and made the people who are against murder of babies, the sick murderers?? Huh?
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