State Rep. Melanie Stinnett, a Springfield Republican, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would again ban abortion in Missouri (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).
Missouri Republicans formally began the push to reinstate a ban on abortion Tuesday night, with a proposed constitutional amendment outlawing the procedure with limited exceptions for victims rape and incest.
A Missouri House committee heard four hours of testimony on legislation filed by GOP state Rep. Melanie Stinnett of Springfield that seeks to overturn an abortion-rights amendment approved by voters in November.
The previous ban, which was in place for two years, only permitted abortions in medical emergencies. Under Stinnett’s legislation, voters would be asked to include exceptions for fetal anomalies and cases of rape or incest, as long as the crime was first reported to police and the abortion is performed prior to 12 weeks gestation.
It would also ask voters to ban gender-affirming health care for minors.
Missouri voters approve Amendment 3, overturn state’s abortion ban
Those who traveled to the Capitol from all corners of the state to oppose Stinnett’s legislation included nurses, women who had miscarriages, women who had abortions and survivors of rape.
Each argued lawmakers must respect the will of the voters.
“Amendment 3 passed in Missouri. There is no reason why I had to drive eight hours round trip to testify against an abortion restriction,” said Jessica Piper, a Democratic activist and former legislative candidate who lives on a farm on the Missouri-Iowa border. “Why can’t you just accept the will of your constituents?”
State Rep. Jamie Gragg, an Ozark Republican, defended the GOP’s decision to put another constitutional amendment on the ballot, saying those who supported Amendment 3 “weren’t given the full picture.”
Gragg on several occasions argued that legislators were not trying to pass a bill banning abortion, but rather putting the decision back in voters’ hands.
Stinnett said she spoke with law enforcement when drafting the legislation, who she says advised her that sexual violence victims could file a police report by going to a police station or by having police come to them. She said the survivor would then need to bring a copy of that report to their medical provider in order to access abortion.
Democrats were quick to push back on this barrier to abortion care.
“There are many reasons someone would not necessarily report sexual violence,” said House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas City.
Aune listed off a number of examples of individuals who might not be able to go to the police, such as child victims of incest.
“How do we help those people under this bill?” asked Aune, who told the committee that she is a rape survivor herself. “ … 12 weeks is simply not grace or empathy for survivors.”
Stinnett said the reason for the deadline is to prevent someone from “claiming rape to get an abortion if that hasn’t occurred.”
Asked how she determined the 48 hour reporting requirement, Stinnett said the idea was to give a physician time “to do due diligence” and make sure the police report was legitimate. Though she added she’s willing to consider other timeframes.
Rep. Becky Laubinger, a Republican from Park Hills, said she supported the reporting requirement, adding that “abortion makes rape a continued secret.”
“My heart goes out to victims of sexual violence. It is horrific. It should not happen,” she said. “I do struggle with the idea that abortion is the only compassionate hope for the many women that I personally know who have suffered sexual violence.”
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In November, Missourians narrowly voted to codify the right to reproductive health care — including abortion up until the point of fetal viability — in the state constitution.
It’s been two months since the new law went into effect, but the procedure remains inaccessible in Missouri. This is because an ongoing court case will decide which “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, also known as TRAP laws, are unconstitutional under the amendment.
While a Jackson County judge temporarily struck down a number of TRAP laws in December, Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri say they cannot restart medication or surgical abortions until all of the TRAP laws are deemed unconstitutional and can no longer be enforced.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion lawmakers returning to Jefferson City for the 2025 legislative session in January have been vocal about pushing forward a new constitutional amendment. The hope is to approve an amendment that could go before voters as soon as this year.
Stinnett’s legislation was the product of a working group of House Republicans tasked with selecting and prioritizing one proposed amendment among the dozens that were filed.
State Rep. Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican, told The Independent prior to Stinnett’s bill being referred to committee that while he believes life begins at conception, “we also have to provide legislation that actually would pass.”
“Those that voted for Amendment 3 primarily were thinking about rape, incest and life of the mother,” said Seitz, a member of the working group.
Jennifer Driver, senior director of reproductive rights with State Innovation Exchange, a nonprofit focused on promoting progressive policies, said Missouri isn’t the first state where Republican lawmakers tested the limits of abortion legislation before taking incremental steps reversing it in response to backlash.
“Adding in exceptions does not work. It is a way to kind of pander to a base so that the bills and these measures don’t seem so extreme,” Driver said. “But we know the overwhelming number of people don’t actually report.”
Two out of every three sexual assaults are not reported to police, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In a research letter published last year in JAMA Internal Medicine, one group of researchers estimated that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, more than 65,500 women and girls in the 14 states with abortion bans in place became pregnant after being raped.
Numerous pieces of research point to a myriad of reasons why survivors may not report their assault immediately, if ever. Among the most prevalent concerns cited are often fears of retaliation, of not being believed and of getting involved with law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
One woman from Columbia spent her two minutes Tuesday night telling lawmakers about how she was raped at a party in college. While the assault didn’t result in pregnancy, she said the reporting process was too much to handle. She had to undress in front of law enforcement to have her bruises photographed, and later police asked her to call her rapist to attempt to get him to admit what he did.
“Rep. Stinnett’s (legislation) lacks the rigor that the women in Missouri deserve,” she said.
The committee did not take action on the bill Tuesday.
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