It would require doctors to certify that the abortion was better for the woman than a full-term pregnancy.

It seems to me that this legislation could backfire in a quite charming manner: isn't abortion almost always less risky than pregnancy and childbirth? Especially if we take into account--and I know this is crazy, but bear with me--the damage done to a woman's emotional health and sense of self by being forced to undergo a pregnancy against her will?

I think that pro-choice legislators should simply attach a rider requiring that all this be done before a woman is allowed to proceed with a pregnancy as well. That ought to kill the bill dead.

Uhg. I am so sick of being infantilized by conservatives. At this rate, why don't we just go to a doctor to decide for us about every major life decision we make. Should I pursue x field of study? Should I marry x person? Great idea. Because I couldn't possibly comprehend the impact of my decisions onto my life and the rest of the world without first asking a doctor to decide for me. Such bullshit.

I agree with EG about the pregnancy comeback. If women-are-stupid is allowed with abortion, why not with everything else? On another note: postpartdum depression, which has shown to possibly be greater than than those emotional side effects of abortion, and it's pretty common.

Why? Seriously? Way to create more unnecessary work for good doctors and ways for bad doctors to impose their beliefs on women under the guise of an unjust law.

Also, though I'm afraid I'm going to be scolded for bringing this up, why is there an advertisement for Botox injections under this article? This is just my personal opinion, but I don't think Feministing should accept advertising revenue from such an anti-feminist establishment.
Is there a better place to put up feedback about advertising? I don't want anyone to think I'm bring troll-y.

This is ridiculous! This seems to be yet another combination of three things that I've never understood:
* mixing politics and religion (seriously, the phrase "separation of church and state" only has one big word),
* treating women as inferior human beings (religion again?),
* not minding one's own business (what does Jane's abortion have to do with anyone besides Jane?).

Especially that third point -- didn't someone here tell a story about their grandmother who was against gay marriage but supported it so long as it didn't interfere with hers? She's an amazingly smart woman; some of these politicians could learn a lot from her.

This reminds me of the "The First Time" episode of MTTS (http://midwestteensexshow.com/2007/08/30/mtss-episode-5-the-first-time/) except without any humor.

Well, the other stupid thing about this law is that...this is what doctors do. In general. They specialize in knowing about people's health. Then they give advice/prescribe medications/recommend lifestyle changs/whatever based on health concerns. Is the legislature seriously implying that doctors don't know how to do their jobs? Where's the bloody AMA on this?

nerdalert, I'm not seeing a botox ad. Is it a google ad? The ad I'm seeing is that weird tapping foot under the bathroom stall add for aol news.

It's actually gone now. That was fast!
I was a picture of a woman in her 40s and said, "Parentheses belong on paper, not on your face," and it has a pair of parenthesis superimposed over the woman's mouth.
I didn't mean to cause a ruckus. I just found it troublesome, but it's gone now, so I retract my complaint.

I am a recent Missouri transplant and I am DISGUSTED by all of the anti-choice legislation and rhetoric that this state has been pushing. Between this, Gov. Blunts task force and the legislation that would require health centers that provide more than five abortions each month to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers (currently being fought in court) conservative woman hating runs rampant and it makes me ill and not very proud to be a citizen of my new state.

Anyway, what really gets me is that if you read the article that this post is pulled from are the quotes from a woman who is helping to lead the charge for the ballot initiative:

Paula Talley, a St. Louis woman who is listed as the group’s Missouri contact, said her positions are the result of her faith and strong belief in the right to life. She said she regretted the abortion she had after her husband left her with two young daughters.
“I know abortion can damage women,� Talley said. “It causes depression, and they become promiscuous. It causes alcoholism and leads to suicide attempts. It’s a downward spiral. That’s typical.�

Because having that abortion is what caused your depression, promiscuity, alcoholism and suicide attempts. Not the other factors in your life. Like you know being left by your husband with two young daughters...

typically revealing of the true motive of (most) anti-choicers: punishing sluts. protecting the souls of tiny, tiny cellcluster-people is a front.

i hope the bill gets laughed right out of the missouri legislature.

Reading that one lady's histrionic description in the linked news article is another powerful argument against using anecdote as public policy.

It's a bit sad. This is a woman who is so terrified about taking ownership of her own troubles that she has to blame them on having an abortion.

And I wonder what that woman would have said if she'd gone ahead with the pregnancy and found she couldn't afford a third child on her own.

Once again, just because YOU regret something doesn't mean that your beliefs have to be applied across the board. Not everyone is YOU, lady.

And I grew up in Missouri, will be home for Christmas in a few weeks, and am sad to say that it probably won't be laughed out of the state house. Not to mention but even though this is put up to the doctor's discretion they still have to review cases based from the false information the anti-choice groups are putting out (i.e. abortion causes cancer) so I don't know how they can ignore that "literature" even if they know it's wrong.

Well, this will make my need to pick up the 'ol absentee ballot for super tuesday all the more urgent.

Missouri's an odd place--St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia (where U of Missouri is) total up to almost exactly half of the state's population. The rest of the state is extremely conservative. This leads to a bunch of showdowns over things like this were both sides have almost exactly 50/50 support.

Governor Blunt is none too popular, though.

EG- there is no letting science get in the way of a pro-lifer's views. It won't "backfire", I'm afraid.
I volunteer at PPKM (Planned Parenthood Kansas-Missouri (Kansas City area)), and this is an ongoing struggle.
I wish this bill would "get laughed right out of the MO legislature", too, rileystclair- but, sadly, it most likely won't. The climate in MO is strongly anti-choice. Even in Kansas City, this past summer, PPKM were protesting a house bill proposal to ban abortion in MO, and shut down all Planned Parenthood clinics, except for in St. Louis. It was amazing to see the hatred (along with a little love and approval) directed at us.
The really disheartening part? Much of the disgust came from older women and men. I would think that most older women think back to when abortion was outlawed. Guess not.

yeah, missouri does seem to have a well-publicized anti-choice climate. hopefully the rest of you fine missour(ians?) can get the word out to vote this shit down.

my god, just the amount of headache it would create for doctors is mind-boggling. hopefully the medical profession will be mobilized to oppose this, especially given that it creates more potential for lawsuits, and the medical lobby loves to bitch about tort reform. come to think of it, so do right-wingers in general. guess that's only when it's a little guy versus a megacorp, not a poor, defrauded, brainless woman who was cleverly tricked into plan b or something.

I think "Trust Women" is an amazing slogan. It gets to the root of the pro-choice position in just two words.

I thought I had the right to regret any decision I make. That's the beauty of making one's own decisions. Sometimes you make the right one and sometimes you make the wrong one. That's called life.

I agree with you 100%, FEMily. A person should be able to make their own decisions, even if they regret them later.

There's always one thing I wonder about women who have had abortions and are now fighting to outlaw them...wouldn't they have been pissed off if they hadn't been able to make that choice for themselves, if basically some politician had stepped in and said, "No can do ma'am" at a very desperate time? At the time, weren't they relieved that the option was available to them, even if they came to regret it later?

"The proposal would also allow women to sue doctors if they later regretted their decision to terminate a pregnancy . . ."

So... in other words make it impossible for doctors to even offer abortion since no doctor wants to risk getting sued and facing insanely high malpractice insurance rates. They should conversely allow women to sue if they regretted going full term with their pregnancy because they were talked out of getting an abortion.

It causes depression, and they become promiscuous.

Whaaat?! Ha ha ha ha! Even if that WERE true, why is it a reason to outlaw abortion? Maybe some women WANT to become promiscuous. That's her business.

Lengara- I'm a recent transplant too!

And yeah Missouri, WTF???

I really need to update my voter registration.

Missouri is also a state where it's illegal to homebirth with a midwife and where certified midwives who freely practice in most of the U.S. have repeatedly been denied legal status. "Not trusting women" is practically the state motto.

It's this kind of crap that makes me want to strangle the patriarchal fucktards that support it. "Yes, it's my body, my health, and my LIFE, but I need the approval of some jackass to make decisions, because, apparently, I don't have a brain, I'm just a uterus on legs."

Ugh. I have a friend who found out very late in her (much desired) pregnancy that the fetus had a profound genetic disorder that was going to result in either a stillbirth or death shortly after birth. She decided to terminate, but because she was in the last week in which it is legal to terminate a pregnancy, she had to spend an entire day convincing a doctor to perform the termination, and when she finally convinced him, she then had to wait 24 hours, because the legislature wanted her to be REALLY sure she wanted to end the pregnancy. I was so furious at the asshole politicians (and her asshole doctor) for making what was a heartbreaking situation to begin with even more excruciating. It's just wrong. It blows my mind that people think it's their place to presume to make decisions for people like my friend. I don't know how they sleep at night.

"investigate each patient’s background and lifestyle"

That's the phrase that gets me. That's just code for "if you're not married with three kids... and if you are, why are you wanting an abortion?"

And I know the KC Star isn't the best example of journalism in the world, but I can't tell if it's their journalism or the subject that makes this article seem to damn slanted. Maybe it's how they give PP 2 lines, and half the article to anti-choicer comments.

I am really sick and tired of the Taliban Republicans trying to force women to carry children against their will. And Missouri is just another part of the Taliban Republicans' war on women. And add in the fact that the people supporting this atrocious proposal are from out of state (Springfield, Ill.), that should make people in the Show Me State really suspicious and the Eliot Institute should be investigated.

It is amazing to no end that here in 2007, the United States has now become the Taliban state of the Western Hemisphere.

BTW, I think that forcing women to bear a child against her will should be a felony punishable to life in prison.

Oh S**t! I live in Missouri!

Can I just say that in the midst of all this bullshit, that photograph of someone I assume is male bodied holding a sign that I assume means he, at least, fucking gets it... that makes me feel a whole bit better. Hooray for allies.

Can I just say that in the midst of all this bullshit, that photograph of someone I assume is male bodied holding a sign that I assume means he, at least, fucking gets it... that makes me feel a whole bit better. Hooray for allies.