Anti-abortion advocates split over push to renew Missouri ban with rape, incest exceptions

Students hold up anti-abortion signs at the Midwest March for Life on May 1 at the Missouri State Capitol (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).

While Missouri House Republicans have rallied behind a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban abortion but allow some exceptions for survivors of rape and incest, a similar proposal in the Senate received push-back Wednesday from a Republican lawmaker and anti-abortion activists. 

The Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee on Wednesday heard testimony on a proposed amendment filed by state Sen. Adam Schnelting, a Republican from St. Charles.  Similar legislation was filed in the House by GOP state Rep. Melanie Stinnett of Springfield. 

Both proposals seek to revive Missouri’s near-total ban on abortion with one consession: an exception for victims of rape or incest who seek an abortion in the first 12 weeks gestation but who first report the assault to police. Both also ban gender-affirming health care for minors and allow abortions during an ectopic pregnancy

While much of the opposition to Stinnett’s bill during a House hearing earlier this month came from abortion-rights advocates, Schnelting’s bill drew fire from fierce opponents of abortion. 

“I appreciate your candor and your heart’s desire to do what you think is right. I cannot in good conscience do this,” state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, told Schnelting during Wednesday’s hearing, later adding: “If we think because we elected a new president, that all our troubles are over, you better start thinking again. Why are we so quick to concede? We should mount an army, and yes, I’m telling my plans to those who will oppose us.”

Moon is sponsoring his  own proposed constitutional amendment which would define “person” as “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.”

“Nothing in this constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion,” the legislation continues.

The committee held a public hearing on Moon’s bill on Wednesday as well. 

The divide among Republicans highlights the ongoing moral debate within the anti-abortion movement between banning every abortion and banning most abortions.

The Rev. Brian Davis, a Missouri pastor who came to Jefferson City on Wednesday to oppose Schnelting’s bill, called the rape and incest exceptions “a failed attempt to manage evil.”

Rebecca Keasling, an anti-abortion activist from Michigan, pleaded for lawmakers to oppose the exception for rape and incest survivors.

“It’s completely demoralizing to have a legislature target you,” said Keasling, who told lawmakers she was conceived when her mother was raped and born following a number of failed abortions attempts. 

Keasling previously attempted to sue Iowa over its heartbeat ban, calling that state’s rape and incest exception “discriminatory.” She suggested Schneliting at least add a severability clause, which she said would allow someone to ask the federal court to remove the exception by citing it as a violation of the 14th Amendment. 

Ron Calzone, director of the nonprofit Missouri First, also opposed Schnelting’s bill, saying there’s still time to find another solution. 

“It’s too early,” he told lawmakers. “Let’s use some of that same tenacity for a full repeal.”

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Moon’s legislation proposing fetal personhood was presented Wednesday as the “pro-life” alternative. 

Under the amendment, Moon said, a cause of action could be brought in defense of a developing fetus. 

Asked if he supports criminal penalties for those who get abortions, Moon said anyone who commits a crime should be held accountable. 

State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, shared her own story with the committee of miscarrying in her home the evening before her 12-week obstetrics appointment. 

“Lots of women miscarry every single day. My question has always been, how would somebody know if I induced that abortion or it was spontaneous? Because there’s nothing in my system that would tell somebody that,” she said. “I’m very concerned of what this would do to target women, to criminalize women.

Moon said he didn’t have a full answer, but he noted that when someone is accused of something, it’s typically followed by a trial “and hopefully that trial is complete.” 

Planned Parenthood on its website states that in most cases, medical professionals cannot test to determine whether or not someone took abortion medication.

Linda Martin said having access to an abortion 37 years ago was a pivotal moment in her life.

She was 9 weeks into her first pregnancy when she learned the fetus was nonviable. Martin said she had the choice of going home and miscarrying naturally, or having an abortion. She and her husband chose the latter, with guidance from her doctor.

“The mystery of life is so complex, it just cannot be regulated,” said Martin, a voter in Schnelting’s district, which sits in St. Charles County where 53% of voters approved last year’s abortion rights amendment, known as Amendment 3. 

She said it’s “insulting” to insinuate that Missourians didn’t know what they were voting for and “manipulative” to introduce a new amendment. 

Schnelting during Wednesday’s hearing said his amendment serves to clarify the state’s abortion laws, pointing to the millions of dollars in ads paid for by the Amendment 3 campaign, which he said misled voters.

State Rep. Patty Lewis, a Democrat from Kansas City, said while sitting on the senate’s new government efficiency committee, she’s seen hundreds of letters from Missourians who see the attempt to roll back Amendment 3 as “a waste of taxpayer dollars.” 

“We’re not undoing the will of voters,” Schnelting said. “Only the voters can undo their own will.”  

Any amendment approved by the legislature would likely appear on the ballot in 2026, or sooner as part of a special election called by the governor.

In November, 51.6% of Missouri voters overturned a near-total abortion ban by codifying the right to reproductive health care, including abortion up until the point of fetal viability, in the state constitution. 

Only one legal abortion has happened in Missouri since Amendment 3 went into effect. Planned Parenthood is currently suing the state, hoping to permanently remove dozens of “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws that they say hinder their ability to re-start the procedure across the state. That case is ongoing, but a victory for Planned Parenthood could ultimately make Missouri an access state for much of the south, where abortion remains largely illegal.

Opposition to Schnelting’s bill from Democrats also largely centered around the rape and incest reporting requirements. 

“Abortion is a medical treatment, not a political football, nor a religious dictum,” said Diane Light, a Missouri physician who said she worried about tasking doctors with verifying police reports prior to an abortion. 

Nurrenbernm said she found it compelling that the Missouri House earlier recently approved a bill that would extend the civil statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse from age 31 to age 41. But at the same time, some of the same GOP lawmakers are discussing limiting survivors seeking an abortion to 12 weeks to report the traumatic event.

“Shouldn’t there not be some kind of metric,” said state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby. “To ensure that those women who are going to go have an abortion are having an opportunity to meet the person who has perpetrated this crime against them, have their day in court.”

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.

“These exceptions are them trying to seem like they are compassionate,” said Erin Davis, who canvassed for Amendment 3 in St. Charles County over the summer on behalf of Abortion Action Missouri. “But we know assault survivors have a hard time reporting.”

Maggie Olivia, a senior policy manager with Abortion Action Missouri, said Wednesday’s debate showed the determination of members of the anti-abortion movement in Missouri to punish those who access abortion care. 

“It is clear from the hearing today that even if they were able to pass a resolution like (Schnelting’s), that it wouldn’t be enough,” Olivia said.” The anti-abortion movement won’t stop at a second round vote by the people.”