Missouri Selective Abortion Ban (SB 724)

SB 724 would prohibit any person from performing or inducing an abortion if they know that the pregnant person is seeking the abortion solely due to a prenatal diagnosis, test, or screening indicating Down Syndrome or the potential of Down Syndrome in a fetus.

Additionally, this bill would prohibit any person from performing or inducing an abortion on a pregnant person if the individual knows that the pregnant person is seeking the abortion solely because of the sex or race of the fetus.

Any physician or other person who violates the provisions of this act would be subject to civil and criminal penalties.

Reporting Requirements

This law would require a physician to certify in their reports that they did not have any knowledge that the pregnant person sought the abortion solely because of a prenatal diagnosis, test, or screening indicating Down Syndrome or the potential of Down Syndrome; or that the woman sought the abortion solely because of the sex or race of the fetus.

Sex-selection abortions are not a widespread problem in the United States. However, anti-choice activists cite three studies documenting the use of sex-selection abortion primarily among a small number of immigrant women. The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum notes that a ban similar to the proposed Missouri ban “targets and thus limits reproductive health access for Asian American & Pacific Islander women, who anti-choicers say are the ones guilty of this abortion practice. We know the real solution to ending the preference for sons in some families is getting to the root of the problem: gender inequity. If lawmakers truly want to help us, we call on them to promote equal pay, access to education, health equity, and ending violence against women.”

Related Legislation

Companion bill to HB 1867.

Identical to SB 96, which failed to pass in 2017.

Similar to SB 802 and HB 1815, both of which failed to pass in 2016.

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