Missouri Senate passes bill to ban abortions at 8 weeks
Missouri’s Republican-led Senate has passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy.
Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before lawmakers’ Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least another vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who supports it.
The bill only allows exceptions in cases of medical emergencies, not rape or incest.
The Missouri bill comes as abortion opponents across the U.S. push for new restrictions in hopes that the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court will overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy. Alabama’s governor signed a near-total abortion ban Wednesday.
