Demonstration at Columbia pregnancy clinic after new abortion regulations signed into law

Dozens of pro-life and pro-choice supporters gathered outside the My Life Clinic in Columbia Wednesday night.

“We’re here to help women who are in crisis pregnancy and we care about them,” said Bonnie Lee, who is a member of the board of directors for the Pregnancy Help Center Lake Area in Camdenton.

Lee and other pro-life demonstrators claim pregnancy clinics like My Life offer women more resources than Planned Parenthood.

“We wanted to show that there is a long list of supportive services for women,” said Joanne Schrader. “With my first pregnancy I had my support from a pregnancy resource center that helped me get through what was an unplanned pregnancy at the time.”

But pro-choice supporters referred to My Life as a “fake” clinic.

“They are known for misleading woman about where they are in their pregnancy and not giving them the option about doing what’s best for them, whether that’s carrying the pregnancy to term or terminating it,” said Sheela Lal.

The demonstration comes on the same day Gov. Eric Greitens signed Senate Bill 5 into law.

Senators approved the bill this week in special session. It creates new rules for abortion procedures and clinics.

Supporters of SB 5 said the law was necessary to keep clinics safe. But Lal said the new law is problematic.

“There’s just never been a push for caring for women no matter what their political affiliation is,” she said. “All of us deserve to choose what our lives look like and when the state decides to put limits on how we can do that healthily, we can’t live here.”