Missouri House Backs Abortion Facility Regulation-Abstinence Ed Bill 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 25, 2007
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) — The Missouri state House has approved a bill that would tighten safety regulations at abortion facilities across the state. Abortion advocates objected to the bill saying that the stringent requirements could result in the closing of abortion businesses that are unable to comply.
The House voted on Monday 101-48 for the bill and the vote came on the same day the Supreme Court directed a federal appeals court to uphold the state’s partial-birth abortion ban after it ruled a national one is constitutional.
Under the legislation, HB 1055, abortion facilities would be monitored by the Department of Health and Senior Services as ambulatory surgical clinics, which must meet higher standards for both the facility and staff.
That designation applies to any abortion center where any second or third-trimester abortions are done as well as places that do more than five first-trimester abortions a month.
But Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, said that would threaten the existence of some abortion businesses in the state.
"The last several years, we have seen more and more restrictions and hurdles and obstacles and burdens put in front of women, while simultaneously we have fewer and fewer providers" of abortions, she told AP.
She indicated that Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis abortion facility is currently the only one in the state licensed to do abortions. The Planned Parenthood abortion centers in Columbia and Kansas City do abortions only two days a month and offer the abortion drug respectively.
They would also be subject to the new requirements.
The measure would increase state oversight on abortion centers and also prohibit them from distributing materials for sexual education courses in public schools. Planned Parenthood has a half dozen people that go to schools to spread its pro-abortion message.
The legislation also gives schools districts the option of teaching abstinence-only sex education whereas current law requires them to include safe sex materials as well.
The bill now heads to the Senate where a companion measure is pending.
Related web sites:
Missouri legislature – https://www.moga.mo.gov
