Missouri considers homicide charges for women who have abortions

Lawmakers in both chambers of the Missouri legislature on Friday faced bills that would charge women who aborted their unborn babies with homicide. The bills would allow exceptions for women who were coerced into getting abortions and those who needed abortions to save their lives. Republican State Rep. Bob Titus told The Associated Press the laws treat unborn babies like any person killed by someone else.

Does this legislation have a chance of getting passed? Laws seeking to treat abortions as murders have gained little traction elsewhere in the country. However, Republican lawmakers in several states, including Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, have proposed similar bills that would bring criminal charges of some kind against women seeking abortions. But since the fall of Roe v. Wade, lawmakers in many states with Republican-led governments have found success in passing other legislation protecting unborn babies.

Dig deeper: Read Joseph Backholm’s column in WORLD Opinions about the failure of pro-life movements in recent state elections.