Missouri Becomes First State to End Abortion
Missouri has become the first state in America to no longer perform abortions. The St. Louis abortion facility still has a license to perform abortions, but Planned Parenthood does not want to comply with Missouri’s pro-life laws. Instead, the St. Louis facility is referring women for abortions to a new Planned Parenthood a few miles across the border in Illinois.
On May 17, 2019, Missouri passed a law that made abortions illegal after eight weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
According to “The Status of American Abortion Facilities in 2020,” a year-end report by Operation Rescue, “Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood in St. Louis was the last abortion facility in Missouri.” Despite still remaining open, the report confirmed “no abortion appointments” being made available at the facility “for months, and none are available anytime in the foreseeable future.”
There are currently 706 active abortion facilities in the U.S. However, 45 abortion facilities closed or ceased performing abortions nationwide in 2020.
Ten states saw a decrease in the number of abortion facilities including New York, where nine abortion centers closed; Washington State, where three closed; and Connecticut, New Jersey and Texas, where two closed in each state. States with only one facility left include Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming.
California, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Virginia all increased the number of abortion mills.
Liberty Counsel has filed numerous briefs to protect the unborn and to show the inherent value of human life. The first case Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman, argued before the United States Supreme Court in 1994 was in defense of pro-life sidewalk counselors.
Liberty Counsel now defends Sandra Merritt against the vicious two-front attack launched against her by California’s attorney general and Planned Parenthood. Merritt is a courageous pro-life grandmother who exposed Planned Parenthood’s horrific trade in baby body parts. She and her co-defendant, David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress, are the first undercover journalists to be charged with a crime for undercover recordings made in the public interest in the history of California.
Download Liberty Counsel’s booklet, “The Truth About Abortion.”
“Every person has a right to life, and this includes the most vulnerable child in the womb. We must make the womb a safe place once again,” Staver said. {eoa}
This article originally appeared at lc.org.
