Pro-lifers are sounding the alarm over Missouri legislation that would embed abortion exceptions for rape and incest in the state constitution but also prohibit elective abortions and underage ‘gender transitions.’
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (LifeSiteNews) -- The Missouri legislature is seeking to prohibit elective abortion while adding allowances for abortion in cases of rape and "medical emergencies" in its state constitution.
On February 26, the Missouri Families, Seniors and Health Committee met to discuss passing SJR 33, an amendment that would put abortion exceptions, as well as a ban on most abortions, in the state constitution.
"This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, prohibits abortions," the provision begins.
However, it continues to allow abortions up to 12 weeks in the cases of rape or incest and "medical emergencies" "if documentation is presented to the attending physician that the rape or incest has been reported to a law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction to investigate the complaint at least 48 hours prior to the abortion."
The amendment also prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used for abortion. It additionally "prohibits the use of surgeries, hormones, or drugs to assist a child with a gender transition; and holds that any person who intentionally or negligently causes damage to another person relating to the provision of reproductive health care or the performance or inducement of an abortion shall be liable for damages and subject to suspension or revocation of his or her medical license."
Missouri has previously had strong pro-life protections, but voters in the state approved a radical pro-abortion ballot initiative in November 2024.
While the new amendment proposed by the Missouri legislature would outlaw most abortions, many pro-life activists have warned against embedding a "right" to abortion of babies conceived in rape.
Pro-life advocate Rebecca Kiessling, who was nearly killed in the womb after being conceived in rape, recently testified at the Families, Seniors and Health Committee, stressing that her life is no less valuable because of the circumstances of her conception.
"I literally owe my birth to pro-life legislators who saw that mine was a life worth saving today," she told the committee.
"It would be the first time in United States history that a State Constitution would enshrine the killing of a group that legislators have determined subhuman, that they have determined to be pawns, that they've determined to be expendable, and we are just as worthy of love and life and protection as anyone else," she declared.
In a later Facebook post, Kiessling revealed that she has been told Missouri will "extend it from 12 to 16 weeks to kill the baby, and, they're adding fetal abnormality exceptions - targeting children with disabilities."
