By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – The Missouri House has chosen not to take up an informed consent abortion bill passed by the State Senate.
It would require doctors to tell women in person about potential medical risks before having an abortion, but language making it a crime to coerce a woman to end a pregnancy was removed.
Speaker Pro-tem Bryan Pratt (R, Blue Springs) says they've sent the original House version back to the Senate, which contains the coercion language.
"And the coercion language is much tighter than it has been in the past...basically, you have to coerce someone and commit another crime, like domestic violence, like a sort of an assault," Pratt said.
But the Missouri Senate refused to take up the House version and sent it back, meaning the bill is likely dead for 2009.