Missouri Bill Says Women Must Seek Consent From Fathers Before Doing Abortions; Planned Parenthood Calls It 'Insult to Women'
A new bill introduced in the Missouri state legislature that would require women seeking abortions in that state to get written consent from fathers except in the cases of rape or incest, is already under attack from abortion rights group Planned Parenthood, which has slammed it as an "insult to women."
Father of five and Republican Missouri state representative Rick Brattin, introduced the bill in the state legislature earlier this month and it is expected to be picked up in next year's legislative session.
"No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion, except in cases in which the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced was the victim of rape or incest and the pregnancy resulted from the rape or incest," reads the bill.
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"If the father of the unborn child is deceased, the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced shall sign a notarized affidavit attesting to the fact. No physician shall perform or induce an abortion unless and until the physician has obtained the written consent required in this subsection. The physician shall retain a copy of the consent or affidavit in the patient's medical record," ended the instructions in the bill.
As word of the proposal spread, however, many abortion rights advocates rankled by the notion, ripped it unmercifully pointing to the Supreme Court's 1992 decision in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey which struck down requirements that a woman had to tell her spouse before going forward with an abortion.
"This bill is insulting and a danger to women in abusive relationships," M'Evie Mead, director of statewide organizing for Missouri's Planned Parenthood affiliated told Mother Jones. "That's very much our concern. But when it comes to abortion, Missouri legislators are always trying to outdo each other."
The bill does not outline any specific penalties for women or abortion doctors who flout the new proposal if it gets passed into law. Brattin, however, explained that a woman seeking an abortion in Missouri couldn't simply claim that she was raped to relieve herself of the requirement.
"Just like any rape, you have to report it, and you have to prove it," Brattin told Mother Jones. "So you couldn't just go and say, 'Oh yeah, I was raped' and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape."
He continued: "I'm just saying if there was a legitimate rape, you're going to make a police report, just as if you were robbed…That's just common sense."
Read the complete bill below:
