A Republican state legislator who generally opposes abortion said he is concerned about a controversial anti-abortion bill introduced by one of his colleagues because it would infringe on a woman’s bodily autonomy.
At a Tuesday state House committee hearing, Missouri Rep. Ron Hicks mentioned a bill that would require a woman seeking an abortion to obtain notarized consent from the father of the fetus, with no exemption for women in domestic violence situations.
A video of his remarks was filmed and posted by Progress Missouri, a progressive advocacy group. The hearing was held at a private country club, a practice that has been common with the committees and was banned by the state speaker as of Wednesday.
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Though Hicks has introduced legislation requiring that an ultrasound be performed 24 hours before an abortion (which would require that a survivor of rape report the crime to law enforcement before being able to obtain the exemption it includes), he said he is worried the notification bill would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.
“I don’t want to police a woman’s relationship with her doctor,” he said.
Missouri’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, generally opposes restrictions on abortion access. However, Republicans in both chambers of the state legislature have majorities large enough to override his vetoes.
