JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill mandating that children born during failed abortion procedures must receive the same medical care as other newborns.
Senate Bill 999, sponsored by Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair, also provides clarity on both the criminal and civil liability of individuals assisting in abortion procedures.
“That child would be given the same care, the same treatment, of any other child of the same gestational age,” Hudson said. “That child is under the law to be treated like the human being that he or she is.”
The final version approved Tuesday night came after an afternoon of closed negotiations and filibustering from Democrats on the floor.
Under the bill, knowingly killing a born-alive infant would be equated to first-degree murder. Earlier iterations of the bill would have also designated any health care workers involved in an abortion as mandatory reporters, exposing them to potential criminal penalties for failing to report a live birth abortion. But Hudson removed that provision in his substitute version.
The final bill also walks back earlier language outlining civil liability provisions, placing procedures in line with existing wrongful death statutes.
So-called “born-alive” abortions, also known as live birth abortions, occur when a fetus exhibits signs of life following an attempted abortion procedure. These cases are extremely rare, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An estimated 143 infants were “born alive” following attempted abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the United States, out of a total of 9.3 million abortion procedures performed in that time period. That’s a chance of 0.0015%, or 1 out of every 66,667 abortions performed nationwide.
Data specific to Missouri is not available.
Senate Democrats made their opposition known immediately, filibustering the bill into the evening while compromise motions were negotiated.
Sens. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, and Patty Lewis, D-Kansas City, spent about an hour combing through Lewis’ proposed amendment, which would place restrictions on vasectomies identical to those that restrict access to abortion. These include mandated requirements unique to abortion procedures, such as in-person meetings with the physician carrying out the procedure and mandatory 72-hour waiting periods.
“The legislature says, ‘We’re gonna regulate health care like this, what’s regular? Let’s not pick winners and losers … Let’s not say women’s health care should be safe, but men can be the Wild West,’” Webber said.
The amendment, which ultimately failed, was presented as an attempt to point out that abortion is more tightly regulated than other medical procedures in Missouri. It was not voted on and is not attached to the larger bill.
Sen. Brian Williams, D-St. Louis, was wary of the effects of SB 999, which he said did not clearly define what it means to be “born alive.”
“Regardless of the fact that we support women’s rights and access to health rights, what about providers that have no idea what this law means? And they’re expected to practice in a state that has a law that has not made clear what it even means, or even how you define a child born alive?” Williams said.
Sen. Joe Nicola, R-Grain Valley, spoke out against the revised bill at the tail end of debate Tuesday, lamenting that Republicans had indulged Democratic negotiation and weakened the bill.
“I talked with (Hudson), and I absolutely love his underlying bill, the original bill,” Nicola said. “But there’s no way I could support this (now). I think it’s an unconstitutional piece of legislation now, and it puts the Republicans in a very difficult position.”
SB 999 is just one facet of the wider abortion debate in Missouri. Republican legislators have long crusaded against abortion, passing in 2019 an abortion “trigger” law that effectively banned the procedure statewide after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
That ban went into effect almost immediately after the Court’s overturn of Roe in June 2022, making Missouri the first state in the country to restrict abortion post-Roe.
A constitutional amendment placed on the 2024 general election ballots via the initiative petition process was approved by 51.6% of voters, meaning that abortion is now legal under state law.
However, Republican lawmakers and statewide elected officials have worked extensively to limit implementation through injunctions and legal proceedings. The General Assembly last May passed a constitutional amendment largely reversing the protections approved by voters six months prior. The new proposed amendment, known as Amendment 3, will be on ballots this November.