Politics

Pro-Abortion Groups Sue Over Missouri Law Banning Abortion After 8 Weeks

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Pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Missouri government officials over a ban on abortions after eight weeks that the state passed in May.

Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Paul, Weiss filed the lawsuit against Republican Gov. Mike Parson and other Missouri state officials on Tuesday in an attempt to block abortion legislation passed in May and set to go into effect in August, according to CNN.

“By imposing a ban on abortion prior to viability, the 8-Week Ban violates Plaintiffs’ patients’ rights to privacy and liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the groups wrote.

Parson signed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act into law in May, banning almost all abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. The law allows for abortions after eight weeks only in cases of medical emergency and does not make exceptions for rape or incest.

Doctors who defy the law and perform abortions after eight weeks could face up to 15 years in prison. The law also prevents minors from obtaining an abortion without written parental consent and prevents doctors from performing abortions if they know the mother wants to terminate her pregnancy because her unborn child has Down syndrome.

“My administration will execute the laws the legislature passes,” Parson told reporters in May. “And this pro-life administration will not back down.”

Parson’s office did not yet respond to a request for comment.

By signing House Bill 126 today, we are sending a strong signal to the nation that, in Missouri, we stand for life, protect women’s health, and advocate for the unborn.

All life has value and is worth protecting.

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— Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) May 24, 2019

“For years, anti-abortion politicians in the Missouri General Assembly have been pushing abortion care further and further out of reach,” the acting executive director and legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, Tony Rothert, said in a statement.

“Until now, they’ve used medically unnecessary and politically-motivated restrictions as a cudgel. H.B. 126, Missouri’s extreme and unconstitutional abortion ban, shows us just how far they’ll go,” he continued.

Planned Parenthood “will not cower to politicians who are trying to dismantle our access to safe, legal abortion — not in Missouri, and not anywhere else,” said acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson, according to CNN.