As Missouri debates new abortion curbs, both sides rally

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Supporters and opponents of abortion rallied Wednesday at the Missouri Capitol as a special session of the Legislature considered new restrictions in a state that already has some of the nation’s toughest abortion laws.
Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, who called state lawmakers back to the Capitol for the second special session this summer, led an anti-abortion rally in support of proposed new measures such as mandatory annual health inspections of clinics.
He also spoke strongly in favor of nullifying a St. Louis ordinance that bans discrimination based on “reproductive health decisions” such as abortion, saying it made the heavily Democratic city “an abortion sanctuary city.”
“We’ve got to raise our voices together and tell them, ‘Not on our watch,’ ” he told a crowd of roughly 200, many of whom held signs that read “protect life.”
...Greitens said he called the special session in reaction to a St. Louis ordinance banning discrimination based on “reproductive health decisions” and a federal judge’s ruling that struck down some Missouri abortion restrictions passed by previous legislative sessions.The ruling, which the state is appealing, tossed out Missouri requirements that doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, and that clinics meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery. Greitens wants lawmakers to enact other restrictions on clinics in place of those that were struck down...
..Proposed bills approved by a Senate panel Tuesday would require annual abortion clinic inspections, new authority for the attorney general to prosecute violations of abortion law and a requirement that the state health department review fetal-tissue reports from abortions.
Some Missouri Republican lawmakers have been trying to pass more stringent laws dealing with fetal tissue since the 2015 release of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists, who said the videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of tissue.
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**Some of our members are in pic. #6 of the pictures from this article.  Picture taken by David Carson of the St. Louis Post Dispatch.