Missouri AG requests Supreme Court review of blocked abortion law

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) requested Thursday that the Supreme Court review a state law that widely restricts abortions after it was blocked by a federal appeals court.

Schmitt, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022, submitted a petition seeking the highest court to weigh in on the law. 

In 2019, the Missouri Legislature passed the law in question, which outlaws abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy as well as abortions conducted “solely because of a prenatal diagnosis” indicating a child might have Down syndrome.

Doctors who violate the law, which has not gone into effect due to ongoing legal challenges, could face up to 15 years in prison.

The attorney general in his petition cited a “circuit split” on court decisions over legislation prohibiting abortions based on the prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. He called on the Supreme Court to reverse lower court decisions that labeled these laws as “categorically unconstitutional.”

The petition will also ask whether restrictions on abortions at eight, 14, 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy are legally valid.

“My son Stephen has shown me the inherent beauty in life, and he brings immense joy and love to his loved ones and those around him,” Schmitt said, referencing his son who was born with tuberous sclerosis. 

“Since taking office, I’ve fought to protect all life, including the unborn,” he said in a release. “A pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome should not be a death sentence. It’s my hope that the Supreme Court will grant our petition for writ of certiorari and hear this critically important case.”

Schmitt’s appeal to the Supreme Court comes after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month to block the Missouri law, citing that it amounted to a ban instead of a restriction on abortions. The federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s ruling prohibiting the state from enforcing the law.

Previous legislation in Missouri requires women who seek an abortion to get counseling from a doctor and wait 72 hours.

The petition also comes as Republicans in several states have pushed to pass abortion restrictions in the hopes of getting the conservative majority in the Supreme Court to override the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade. 

The Supreme Court decided in May to hear arguments on a Mississippi law that virtually outlaws abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Yaselsie Rodríguez, the president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, cited the timing of Schmitt’s petition as “no coincidence.”

The state Senate on Wednesday adjourned a special session following debate over a Republican push to defund Planned Parenthood.

“This is what it looks like in Missouri when anti-abortion politicians try and fail to further their agenda,” Rodríguez said.

“Reproductive Health Services and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri are still here serving every patient who needs care,” she added. “We call that a victory no politically motivated court filing can change for patients.”

Updated 3:20 p.m.