Red state GOP pushes abortion ban with possible death penalty: 'God demands equal justice'

Wes Groggins didn’t mince words when he testified to a Missouri Senate committee Monday in support of legislation expanding legal protections for embryos.

The executive director of Abolish Abortion Missouri invoked the Bible’s Old Testament in his justification that anyone who has an abortion or assists someone in accessing an abortion should be charged with murder.

“God demands equal justice,” he said, “equal protection for all persons.”

For the second year in a row, state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would define “person” as including “every human being with a unique DNA code regardless of age, including every in utero human child at every stage of biological development from the moment of conception until birth.”

This approach to both criminalizing women who have abortions and forcing women who’ve been raped to continue a pregnancy has become increasingly unpopular among Missouri Republican leadership in recent years. Notably, none of the state’s leading anti-abortion groups testified on behalf of the legislation Monday.

“We are certainly at a political divide,” Moon told the Senate Emerging Issues and Professional Registration Committee on Monday. “It appears we are also at a scientific divide and also a spiritual divide.”

While Moon’s legislation faces long odds to land on the ballot, it does shed light on an ongoing debate among anti-abortion advocates over what abortion exceptions are justifiable, after Missourians overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban in November 2024.

“Some are saying that we are doing our best to save the children, especially the pre-born children, but I ask you this question: ‘how can we make that claim if we haven’t taken all the steps we can possibly take to make that happen?’” Moon said Monday “ … Will this committee determine that we’ve already done as much as we can do? Or will you endeavor to do even more?”

More than 20 people testified in support of the legislation, driving from all corners of the state to condemn abortion in any form. One man used his time before the microphone to sing Amazing Grace to the committee. Another emphasized that everyone in the room “already survived the thought of abortion” by being born. Multiple photos were shown of embryos, their names told to committee members by those testifying in support of their rights.

Moon’s amendment would create a total abortion ban and criminalize anyone involved in an abortion, from the providers to the person ending their pregnancy. Those found guilty of murder in Missouri can face the death penalty.

Last year, Moon stepped down from the Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee after he said he couldn’t support a proposed abortion ban amendment that included exceptions for survivors, but didn’t want to block the amendment from moving forward.

The legislature went on to approve a similar proposed amendment for the ballot. As a result, Missourians will be asked to again weigh in on abortion this November. The measure would re-instate an abortion ban, but this time adding exceptions for rape and incest survivors in addition to exceptions for medical emergencies. It would enshrine an existing ban gender-affirming health care for minors in the constitution and allow abortions during an ectopic pregnancy.

“We’re in a precarious situation in our state,” Moon told the committee, because while state law defines life as beginning at conception, the state constitution protects abortion access up until the point of fetal viability under the reproductive freedom amendment approved by about 52% of Missourians in 2024.

State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Kirkwood Democrat, raised concerns at Monday’s hearing about how Moon’s proposed amendment could threaten the legality of in-vitro fertilization in Missouri.

Through the IVF process, a woman’s eggs are retrieved from her body and then fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. Any embryos that result can then be either transferred to her uterus or frozen for future use.

McCreery referenced the confusion that played out in Alabama two years ago when its state supreme court ruled that frozen, fertilized embryos are “children.” IVF procedures temporarily came to a screeching halt and families were left in limbo as clinics tried to determine whether they could be found liable for wrongful death if an embryo was destroyed.

“Your language is very troubling, and it doesn’t just impact non-Christians,” McCreery said after relaying a story from one of her constituents who underwent IVF. “It impacts some very, very conservative families all around the state.”

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Moon said, adding that he plans to submit a committee substitute that would address her concerns.

“So you are OK then with families using fertility treatments?” she asked.

“Mmm hmm,” Moon said.

State Sen. Patty Lewis, a Kansas City Democrat, said she wasn’t sure Moon’s answer was reassuring, considering not every embryo that’s created ends up being implanted.

Hannah Strege, 27, joined her parents, Marlene and John Strege, in testifying in support of the proposal. Hannah Strege said she was the first frozen embryo to be adopted in the United States and then born.

“When my parents adopted me and my 19 siblings, we had already existed for nearly three years, not in a nursery, not in a home, not in storage, biologically human, yet treated under property law,” said Strege, whose parents for decades have advocated against abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

Sarah Hanks, a mother of 10 who gave birth to one of her daughters as the result of an embryo adoption, also testified in support.

“We valued her so much,” she said, “that we paid $18,000 for this whole adoption process, and we did it because we believe that her life was precious and that she deserved to be valued.”

Doug Mann, with Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action, was among a handful of people to testify against Monday’s legislation.

The proposal, he argued, “does not follow the science, nor does it follow medical standards, and it’s going to cause a lot of issues outside of just abortion.”