On Wednesday, Missouri state Senator Mike Moon introduced an amendment that would permanently ban women from accessing Medicaid if they had an abortion. The proposal was slammed by hundreds as inhumane and an attack on women’s freedom.
The bill
Moon’s amendment would specify that “no funds” from Medicaid would be “used as reimbursement for health care services provided to a woman if she received an abortion… for reasons other than a medical emergency … while a recipient” of Medicaid.
Outrage
“Republicans in Missouri have drafted an amendment to ban women for life from accessing Medicaid if that woman has ever had an abortion,” the state Senate Democratic Party wrote on X. As of Friday, the post had over 670,000 views and hundreds of furious replies.
Unacceptable decision
“These women will be denied access to health care of any kind unless they can pay for it & obviously, they can’t,” one user commented on the Senate Democrats’ X post. “This is terrifying & absolutely cruel. This should be illegal in a democracy.”
Raising questions
“How would they even enforce that? They have no right to a woman’s medical history records,” another X user wrote. “Will they do the same to men who wanted her to get one? How would they know? This is insane.”
No going back
“I was born in Missouri,” one user wrote. “I would never live there again under those clowns. Incredibly sad to watch.”
Dangerous situation
Just minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Missouri banned abortion except in cases of medical emergency. It was the first state to invoke a dormant trigger law banning abortion after the ruling.
Terrible decision
Planned Parenthood sharply criticized the rapid ban, and quoted Justice Stephen Breyer’s dissent to the Court’s ruling: “For millions of women, Roe and Casey have been critical in giving them control of their bodies and their lives. Closing our eyes to the suffering today’s decision will impose will not make that suffering disappear.”
Hypocrisy
The abortion ban was triggered by an opinion issued by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who said it was “a monumental day for the sanctity of life.” When arguing against exceptions for victims of rape and incest, state Senator Rick Brattin suggested giving the death penalty to a rapist as a compromise.
Harsh on all counts
“If you want to go after the rapist, let’s give him the death penalty,” Brattin said. “But not the innocent person caught between that, by God’s grace, may even be the greatest healing agent you need in which to recover from such an atrocity.”
Religious fanatics
“God does not make mistakes,” state Senator Sandy Crawford claimed. “For some reason he allows that to happen. Bad things happen.”
Dubious reasoning
At the time, state Senator Mike Moon spent over ten minutes listing famous individuals who had been conceived through rape or incest. He also proposed castrating rapists as punishment.
Have some compassion
McCreery pointed out that victims of rape and incest have “already survived enough trauma.” “They shouldn’t have to go to another state to get compassionate medical care,” she argued.
Widespread support
According to Pew Research, a majority of Americans have supported legal abortion for the last three decades. In 2022, when Roe was struck down, 61% said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Broad support
The only sub-groups of Americans opposed to abortion are Republicans and White evangelical Protestants. Every other group — men and women; moderate and liberal Republicans; White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans; all age groups, including Americans over the age of 65; Americans of all education levels — supported abortion by majorities of up to 90%.
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