Senate approves Medicaid postpartum expansion amid abortion questions
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri Senate members approved a proposal that would give low-income mothers and their children Medicaid for a year.
The 27-4 approval from the state Senate on Thursday sends the legislation to the Missouri House.
The legislation hopes to adress Missouri's high maternal mortality rate by allowing low-incomes mothers care for up to a year after giving birth.
Republicans have inserted wording that would essentially prohibit women who have had an abortion in the past from receiving the extended benefits.
Missouri became the first state to ban abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June. Most abortions were banned.
"I mean, currently, we have a set of laws relative to who is capable of getting an abortion and why, you know, in Missouri now, generally because of the health of the mother," Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) said. "I think the motivation for the language was to try to make sure that there wasn't someone intentionally going to another state or doing something to effectively break our law and then receive these services."
Rowden said, in his personal opinion he does not believe the language is necessary.
"I understand the motivation," Rowden said. "I think the weaponization of the government against specific individuals, you know, pregnant moms, in this case, this is something that gives me heartburn."
Democratic Sen. Tracy McCreey, of St. Louis County, expects similar legislation to move forward.
"Well, I think what happened to Senate bills, 45 and 90 is going to continue to happen in the State Senate as long as we let a select few torpedo legislation that the vast majority of the senate and quite frankly, the state wants to see happen," McCreery said. "Which is to help keep new moms alive through their first year of postpartum and make sure that these new babies have their moms with them in a health way."
"This poison pill that was inserted by a select few will cause the bill to not be approved by CMS centers for Medicaid and Medicare."
McCreery said the abortion language inserted into the bill is, "an example of government overreach" and claimed it would force women to "not be honest with their health care providers, and this is exactly the kind of language that CMS will not approve."
"(This is a) form of government policing and surveillance over low income women, and it's unacceptable," she said.
McCreery and Sen. Barbara Washington (D-Kansas City) voted against the bill. Republicans Sen. Curtis Trent, of Springfield, and Mary Elizabeth Coleman, of Arnold, voted against the bill as well.
