Abortion Bans Were Never Enough: Missouri Senate Moves To Restrict Birth Control Access

Missouri’s most famous achievements in reproductive health include being the first state to ban abortion completely. If that’s not enough to make you scream — it gets worse.

In June 2022 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights advocates argued that Missouri Republicans would only dial up their efforts to take control over reproductive health care, even after enacting the first abortion ban in the country. They were right: with SB 160 and SJR 8, Missouri Republicans are coming after birth control and all preventive care.

Republicans introduced SB 160 and SJR 8, which would block people with low incomes from accessing essential non-abortion health care like birth control from Planned Parenthood. This is the next step in a crusade to completely take over our reproductive rights, using our bodies and our futures to score political points.

For Missouri’s Republican Senators, sometimes it really does seem like all they’re after is cruelty and cheap political points. That’s why activists and Missourians from across the state continue to show up and fight back. Read what they had to say:

By targeting Planned Parenthood these bills target an expert health care provider. By targeting Planned Parenthood these bills threaten to further fray an already over-extended safety net. That’s the point – target people with low incomes, women, and people of color and their most trusted health care provider.

Vanessa Wellbery, VP of Policy and Advocacy at Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri

Posted February 23, 2023