JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. _ A package of proposals that will alter state abortion regulations advanced out of a Senate committee on day two of a special session ordered by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
Acting on the Republican governor's call, the GOP-controlled Seniors, Families and Children Committee endorsed a plan Tuesday that would overturn an anti-discrimination ordinance put in place by St. Louis aldermen in February.
The local ordinance is designed to bar employers and landlords from discriminating against women who have had abortions or plan to undergo one.
A second state proposal would give the attorney general more power to prosecute violations of abortion-related laws. A third proposal, sponsored by Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, would tighten restrictions on clinics and what can be done with fetal tissue.
The legislation moved to the Republican-controlled Senate on a party line vote of 4-2.
The legislation could receive an initial vote in the Senate as early as Wednesday, with an eye on moving the proposals to the House where final action could come next week.
The special session focusing on abortion issues is the second one called by Greitens, who is in his first year as governor. Like the first special session, Greitens is planning a rally at the Capitol Wednesday to promote his agenda.
"This event will highlight the crucial and life-saving work of pregnancy care centers around the state and bring Missourians together to celebrate and promote a culture of life," the governor's office said in a statement.
Abortion rights groups are staging a counter-rally Wednesday to highlight the cost of the special session to taxpayers. During testimony Tuesday, they dismissed the special session as a stunt.
"There are some real ways that the Legislature could promote health and even reduce the need for abortion, but it would require women's health to be viewed as something other than a political football," said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an obstetrician and gynecologist from St. Louis.
But abortion rights opponents said the changes are needed to regulate the controversial medical procedure.
For example, Samuel Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, said the legislation will ensure a process for the disposal of fetal remains.
"No couple should be concerned that after an abortion, their unborn child's body parts were later indiscriminately dumped with other waste," Lee said.
