Your Opinion: Veto urged on extended wait for abortions

Dear Editor:

I am writing to urge Gov. Nixon to veto the bill passed by the Missouri Senate under cover of darkness in the last week of the legislative session that would require women to ponder their decision to have an abortion for an additional 72 hours after getting time off work and arranging child care in order to travel to the only abortion clinic in this state for an appointment.

This bill tells women in no uncertain terms that we are thought to be incapable of making responsible decisions about our own bodies and our own families. The Legislature considered whether to exempt survivors of rape and incest from the extended waiting time, and ultimately decided that they ought to be shamed and penalized for their pregnancies as well.

As the Senate passed the bill in the middle of the night, nearly 100 citizens from all over Missouri were filibustering on the Capitol steps in the rain, the cold, and the harsh wind for 72 hours around the clock, in protest.

We were undeterred by the weather, as we stood on the shoulders of tenacious women who worked their entire adult lives for suffrage, passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and abolition, without seeing the fruits of their labors in their lifetimes.

They were shamed, targeted, jailed, restrained, and force-fed when they instituted hunger strikes, yet they persisted, to our eternal gratitude. We come from a long tradition of fierce women, and we will not be broken.

Gov. Nixon simply must do the right thing for women and families in Missouri, a state which doesn't want to feed the poor, shelter the homeless, expand Medicaid, make a serious commitment to public education, or provide sufficient resources for foster children and youth.

Movie title
Grade: grade here
Cast: cast here
Director: director here
Rating: rating here
Running time: minutes
Showtimes and Ticket Info