Legislation that would require a physician to be physically present whenever abortion-inducing drugs are taken by a patient has passed a Missouri Senate committee.
The bill is designed to prevent so-called “webcam abortions” from taking place in Missouri, in which a patient receives instructions from a doctor located elsewhere before taking RU-486 or other abortion-inducing medication. Susan Klein of Missouri Right to Life testified in favor of the bill before the vote.
“Webcam abortions began in Iowa. They went from 5 abortion clinics to 17. This is a proactive bill to keep that from happening here in the state of Missouri,” Klein said.
Michelle Trupiano with Planned Parenthood spoke against the bill, saying the procedures being used are safe.
“The proponents of this bill do not like access to abortion services, so let’s not kid ourselves and say that this is about safety and about women’s health, because we know it’s not about safety,” Trupiano said. “It’s about doing everything that they can to restrict access to abortion services.”
The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a strictly party-line vote. The full Senate has less than three weeks to decide whether to take up the bill for debate and either send it to the Governor or make changes to it and send it back to the House.
