2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 8/17/08 Section: Opinions
Abortion bill provides protection for women
The editorial "Women deserve to hear about abortion pros, cons" in the May 1, 2008 issue of the Index concerned my House Bill 1831. This legislation, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 113 to 33, strengthens Missouri's abortion informed consent law and makes it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. Ideally such a law would be unnecessary. Unfortunately there are all too many examples of women being coerced into having abortions in our state.
This bill would give women the right to obtain specific information prior to an abortion. The bill is very specific as to what conduct is prohibited. It would be illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion by:
*Committing an already illegal act such as assault, battery, kidnapping or threatening with a deadly weapon,
*Stalking or perpetrating violence against a woman,
*Threatening to fire a woman from her job unless she has an abortion or
*Threatening to take away a woman's scholarship unless she has an abortion.
This bill is designed to protect women and ensure that they are acting freely and are fully informed should they choose to have an abortion. This is why the bill received such strong support. I look forward to the prompt action of the Missouri Senate and the Governor to protect Missouri women.
Robert F. Onder, M.D., J.D.
State Representative, District 13
Jarrett's column helps stimulate debate
Phil Jarrett's end-of-last-semester clarion call for balance in the abortion debate merits further support, in terms of the window he is bravely trying to open in this incredibly hostile to free-choicers backwater.
However, is he correct to state that abortion is seen as "repugnant" by all sides? Especially as he himself alights on the one-sidedness of mainly male, religious GOP Missouri State legislators in trying to artificially curtail women's clinic entry options in offensive, alarmist anti-termination language.
The editorial "Women deserve to hear about abortion pros, cons" in the May 1, 2008 issue of the Index concerned my House Bill 1831. This legislation, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 113 to 33, strengthens Missouri's abortion informed consent law and makes it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. Ideally such a law would be unnecessary. Unfortunately there are all too many examples of women being coerced into having abortions in our state.
This bill would give women the right to obtain specific information prior to an abortion. The bill is very specific as to what conduct is prohibited. It would be illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion by:
*Committing an already illegal act such as assault, battery, kidnapping or threatening with a deadly weapon,
*Stalking or perpetrating violence against a woman,
*Threatening to fire a woman from her job unless she has an abortion or
*Threatening to take away a woman's scholarship unless she has an abortion.
This bill is designed to protect women and ensure that they are acting freely and are fully informed should they choose to have an abortion. This is why the bill received such strong support. I look forward to the prompt action of the Missouri Senate and the Governor to protect Missouri women.
Robert F. Onder, M.D., J.D.
State Representative, District 13
Jarrett's column helps stimulate debate
Phil Jarrett's end-of-last-semester clarion call for balance in the abortion debate merits further support, in terms of the window he is bravely trying to open in this incredibly hostile to free-choicers backwater.
However, is he correct to state that abortion is seen as "repugnant" by all sides? Especially as he himself alights on the one-sidedness of mainly male, religious GOP Missouri State legislators in trying to artificially curtail women's clinic entry options in offensive, alarmist anti-termination language.
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