Sydni Copeland
Contributing Writer
Missouri state legislators proposed House Bill No. 131 in mid-December requiring women seeking abortions to have written consent from the fetus’ father.
This violates a woman’s right to make her own health and reproductive health care choices. It needs to be stopped.
The bill states: “No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion, except in cases in which the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced was the victim of rape or incest and the pregnancy resulted from the rape or incest. If the father of the unborn child is deceased, the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced shall sign a notarized affidavit attesting to the fact.”
If this bill is enforced, it will revoke a woman’s rights to her own body. The freedom to make this decision should be left in the hands of the woman and the woman only, as she’ll be the one who carries the fetus. This bill also mentions that even though an abortion is available if the woman is raped or involved in incest without needed consent, she can not get an abortion under the circumstances of an abusive relationship. If she is impregnated by her abusive partner and wants an abortion, clinics will still require notarized consent to it.
Under the circumstances of rape, she cannot just go to an abortion clinic and say, “I was raped. I’d like an abortion,” There has to be a police report on file to provide proof of it.
“It has to be a legitimate rape,” Rick Brattin, Missouri state representative and the bill’s sponsor, said.
A petition on Change.org against this bill has been signed by 2,147 supporters, needing 353 more people to get the attention of the State. Once it reaches 2,500 signatures, that’s when the state of Missouri will have the question put on the ballot, taking it out of the hands of State officials and leaving it up to the people.
Here is the link: https://www.change.org/p/missouri-state-house-stop-mo-representative-rick-brattin-s-abortion-bill.
Only a woman should have the rights to her body. No one else should have any say.
