Republican state lawmakers file several joint resolutions to Amendment 3 ruling
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Majority caucus leaders and members of the Missouri Senate announced during a press conference Tuesday that joint resolutions have been refiled in both the House and Senate in response to a Jackson County judge's ruling that paved the way for abortions to restart in Missouri.
The press conference was led by Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin (R-Shelbina), Senate Majority Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyer (R-Parkville) and members of the majority caucus.
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the state in November after Missouri voters approved Amendment 3, which enshrines abortion rights in the state constitution.
In court documents, some of the current rules on abortion that have been deemed as unreasonable or unconstitutional include one that requires patients to meet with the same clinic physician in two in-person visits at least 72 hours apart and another that leaves physicians open to suits for malpractice if they perform or induce an abortion if the reason for the abortion is due to the unborn baby's gender of if they have down syndrome.
The judge deemed both unreasonable claiming that the first would have scheduling difficulties and the second would be unfair to physicians since they do not typically know the reason for an abortion.
Local lawmakers at the press conference focused on the Missouri rule that required surgical center licensing for clinics. The ruling authorizes the Department of Health and Senior Services to apply separate rules to abortion facilities. The judge claimed this ruling as discriminatory by treating clinics differently than similar health providers.
Members of the Senate argued that blocking the ruling on facility licensing as putting women at risk.
"With the court's decision last week, some of the state's licensing requirements that did provide great safety standards for women were essentially eliminated," Sen. Adam Schnelting (R-St. Charles) said, "Standards like acceptable sterilization standards, standards that require ultrasounds to be performed by licensed technicians."
"We now have abortion that is on demand at any stage in the pregnancy, no matter how dirty the facility is, no matter how harmful the facility is to women and children, that is now the lay of the land in the state of Missouri," Sen. Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) said.
Court documents do not mention facility cleanliness or ultrasounds. The section on facility licensing requirements mentions medical emergency management and patient transfers in times of emergency.
Planned Parenthood also does not perform or induce abortions anytime after 23 weeks.
Republican leaders including Gov. Mike Kehoe agree that the ruling puts women's health at risk. Kehoe posted an X post Monday and said that he met with legislative leaders for next steps and asked Attorney General Andrew Bailey to, "to use all tools at his disposal to protect the safety of Missouri women."
The fears of the pro-life community on the dangers of Amendment 3 have now become a reality.
— Governor Mike Kehoe (@GovMikeKehoe) February 17, 2025
This ruling provides no facility licensing requirements, putting the health and safety of women at risk. I call on @AGAndrewBailey to use all tools at his disposal to protect the safety…
At the press conference, Sen. Rick Brattin said the group's starting points are House Joint Resolution 54 and many Senate Joint Resolutions.
The resolutions across the board plan to ban all abortions in Missouri except for cases of medical emergency, rape, incest and fetal anomaly up to 12 weeks.
Cases of rape and incest also require documented proof that the patient has reported the incident to law enforcement at least 48 hours before the abortion.
The resolution also bans public funds from going towards abortions and anyone who harms a patient during prenatal could be held liable.
The resolution also adds bans on gender transition surgeries and hormone therapy for children under 18.
While not mentioned in Amendment 3 local lawmakers worry that the new rule would open the gates for underage transgender care.
"There are concerns that it allows transgender surgeries on minors, now, many of the advocates of Amendment 3 denied that or were just silent," Schnelting said. "It wasn't until a few weeks after the election that Abortion Action Missouri, for instance, posted on their social media sites that reproductive freedom, this new reproductive freedom that was enshrined in the Constitution, did in fact include gender-affirming care."
ABC 17 News checked Abortion Action Missouri's social media and found that the group claimed transgender people getting abortions was considered gender-affirming care. However, there were no posts mentioning underage transgender surgery or hormone therapy.
ABC 17 News called Abortion Action Missouri for clarity but did not hear back.
According to Planned Parenthood Great Plains, only one abortion has been provided in Kansas City on Sunday with none since then. Additionally, Columbia's Planned Parenthood location is working on scheduling and abortions have not restarted in Columbia.
However, the Planned Parenthood Columbia clinic hopes to restart abortions in a few weeks.
"We look forward to bringing safe, legal abortion care much closer to home and will be swift to communicate out more details on appointment opportunities as soon as we can," CEO and President of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Emily Wales said in a statement to ABC 17 News.
