Anna Spoerre | Missouri Independent

‘It is about offering survivors like me the chance to find safety, to begin healing and to reclaim the life that was stolen from them,’ said state Rep. Cecelie Williams.

The legislation could also introduce civil liabilities against those involved with helping someone access abortion medication.

Most of the complaints against abortion facilities were unsubstantiated, a state health official testified, and were often made by the same groups of protesters who frequently stood outside of the clinics and tried to talk to anyone going inside.

The role Missouri’s abortion regulations played in limiting the number of physicians able and willing to offer abortion services was highlighted in testimony this week in the trial over Missouri’s new reproductive rights amendment.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office renewed its attempts to access abortion patient records as the state tries to build a case in favor of strict abortion regulations.

‘We are a state that claims to love our children and want to put our children in the best outcomes to succeed in life,’ said state Rep. LaKeySha Bosley. ‘And the only way that I know how to do that is to start at the beginning.’

Voters legalized abortion, but decades of restrictions and a hollowed-out provider network mean most Missourians still leave the state for care.

Oscarina gave birth to her son without her husband after he was deported from Missouri months earlier. Advocates, activists and attorneys say many undocumented mothers forego medical care out of fear of being detained and deported.

Missouri Attorney General Hanaway is continuing Andrew Bailey’s fight against medication abortion in a new challenge against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Abortion is only available at some Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri, and not every kind of abortion is accessible.