Missouri Republican withdraws bill allowing murder charges for people who get abortions

A Missouri Republican lawmaker on Wednesday scrapped a bill that would allow for women to be charged with murder for getting an abortion in the state after facing intense criticism.

State Rep. Bob Titus, a Billings Republican, formally withdrew the legislation just two days after President Joe Biden’s campaign hammered the legislation, calling it “cruel and draconian.” Vice President Kamala Harris also criticized it on social media as “outrageous.”

Titus told the Star late Tuesday night that he was withdrawing the legislation, saying in a text that the “media has mischaracterized my interest as hostile toward women.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth. My heart breaks for the killing of children,” Titus said. He declined further comment. Titus withdrew the bill in a letter to House staff on Wednesday.

While Titus pulled his legislation, state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, has filed a nearly identical bill. Moon did not return a call for comment on Wednesday about whether he planned to withdraw his bill.

Both bills, called the “Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act,” would give fetuses the same rights as human beings, which would allow for criminal charges to be filed against anyone who gets an abortion, helps someone get an abortion or provides abortion care in Missouri, which implemented a near-total ban on the procedure after last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said in a text that Titus’ decision to withdraw the bill was “the appropriate thing to do.”

“Those bills do not represent the mainstream thinking of Missourians or Republicans in the general assembly. They are not pro-life,” he said. “Our body should focus on legislation that makes life better for Missourians and makes families want to live here. These bills would do the opposite.”

The bills from Titus and Moon had indicated that some Missouri Republicans planned to push forward on expanding the state’s abortion ban in the 2024 legislative session even as the ban has been criticized for ushering in a chaotic and uncertain era for women and doctors.

The legislation came as abortion rights advocates in Missouri are pushing to get a measure restoring some form of abortion on the state ballot in 2024.

Anamarie Rebori-Simmons, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement on Wednesday that the bill “was a window into their extreme views on essential health care,” signaling that Republicans were still considering other anti-abortion legislation.

“As we see, other bills remain in the legislative process that criminalize care and put patients’ lives at risk,” she said. “When Missourians saw this oppressive bill, they swiftly and rightfully expressed outrage. But the fight isn’t over because anti-abortion lawmakers are determined to control people’s bodies and lives.”

Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Biden’s campaign manager, told McClatchy and the Kansas City Star on Monday that the Republican-led bills were “the latest in a series of cruel and draconian laws” emerging across the United States, tying the bills to the legacy of former President Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments.

“When Donald Trump said there should be ‘some sort of punishment’ for women who seek out reproductive care, this is what he had in mind,” Chávez Rodríguez said. “Extreme MAGA Republicans in Missouri are following Trump’s lead by renewing a push to charge women who attempt to receive reproductive health care with murder.”

Later on Monday, Harris weighed in on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that if “Republican extremists have their way, women in our country could be prosecuted for getting an abortion. That’s what’s on the ballot in 2024.”

While Missouri has moved to the right over the last decade, abortion rights remain popular. Polling conducted last year by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov showed that a majority of Missourians were in favor of some level of legal abortion and disagreed with the state’s ban on abortion.

Fights over the issue of abortion rights and the state’s ban on the procedure will likely be at the forefront during the 2024 legislative session, which begins Jan. 3. While Republicans will fight to expand or keep the ban in place, Democrats have pre-filed bills to repeal the ban or to explicitly state that it does not affect access to birth control.