Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — More than 200 Missourians from across the state gathered in Jefferson City on Wednesday to demand their lawmakers stop extreme, unconstitutional bills that would ban abortion. They began the day with a rally in the Capitol Rotunda, where patients, physicians, faith leaders, health care workers and advocates all spoke with one message: Stop the bans.

A flank of “Handmaids” stood silently behind the speakers, watching over the rally. Inspired byactions across the globe, these Missourians were dressed in character from The Handmaid’s Tale, a story of a dystopian society in which women are silenced and forced to give birth.

Flanked by Handmaids, emcee Alexis Martin kicks off the #StopTheBans Rally in the Capitol Rotunda

Following the rally, the Handmaids led the entire group of advocates to the Senate Gallery, where legislators are considering two of the most extreme abortion bills in the nation. House Bill 126, and its Missouri Senate counterpart, Senate Bill 279, ban abortion as early as six weeks — which is before most women even know they are pregnant. Neither bill has an exception for rape or incest, which could jeopardize Missouri’s $7.2 billion in federal Medicaid funding. The bills also include — among many other medically unnecessary measures — a “trigger ban” that would ban abortion altogether if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

M’Evie Mead, Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri director of policy and organizing, sees the abortion bans as a serious threat to Missouri women’s health. “Abortion is health care. The lawmakers seeking to restrict Missourians’ access to safe, legal abortion must be called out for their real intention: running in a political race to make Missouri the state that overturns Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Missouri women have a right to end a pregnancy. That decision is deeply personal, and belongs to a pregnant person, their family and their doctor — not politicians. Missouri politicians must start focusing on policies that actually improve the health of our communities.

Sara Baker, ACLU of Missouri legislative and policy director, states that women have a constitutional right to access a safe abortion. “The real agenda of these bills is to ban abortion outright. Since they can’t, they are using this restrictive law to put abortion out of reach. Measures like this do not end abortion, they end a woman’s ability to safely obtain an abortion. That’s why Missourians across the state are taking action. With our collective voice, we want to make one thing clear to politicians: stop the bans.”

The day was organized by the #StopTheBans Coalition, building on its successful Week of Action in April. The unprecedented statewide coalition has formed to oppose this unprecedented threat to Missourians’ access to safe, legal abortion. Visit StopTheBansMO.org to learn more about HB 126, SB 279 and the #StopTheBans Coalition.

###

#StopTheBans Coalition | StopTheBansMO.org

Download this release as a PDF.

Find a Health Center

Search
Español

This website uses cookies

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our Necessary Cookies as they are deployed to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.