A Westplex lawmaker has filed a bill aimed at strengthening the state’s informed consent law pertaining to abortion.
13th District State Representative Dr. Bob Onder of
Lake
St. Louis filed the
bill to significantly strengthen
Missouri's informed consent statute and make it a crime to coerce a woman to receive an abortion. The bill, which was the product of work of several major pro-life groups and legislative leaders, will be the major piece of pro-life legislation in the Missouri General Assembly this session.
Onder’s bill requires that 24 hours prior to an abortion, a woman be offered information about the risks and complications of abortion, alternatives to abortion, and, in the cases of late term abortions, fetal pain. It also requires that the woman be offered the opportunity to obtain an ultrasound, hear the unborn child's heartbeat, and receive information about fetal pain in the case of pregnancies of greater than 22 weeks gestation.
In a press release, Onder stated, "Women have a right to know the risks and alternatives to abortion.
The informed consent process at abortion clinics is woefully inadequate, making it imperative that we act to protect women and ensure that they are truly informed when making this life or death choice."
Onder noted that informed consent laws have been held by the United States Supreme Court to be constitutional in light of the state's interest in "potential human life."
