A Missouri State Representative is proposing a new law that would prohibit women from traveling across state lines to get an abortion.
As noted by The Washington Post, Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in back 2019. But that is not enough for GOP Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman.
Coleman claims that the law is not effective because women are traveling out of state for abortions, and she wants to stop them from doing so.
“If your neighboring state doesn’t have pro-life protections, it minimizes the ability to protect the unborn in your state,” Coleman said in justifying her support of the new law, according to The Post.
“An unusual new provision, introduced by state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy behind the restrictive law in Texas that since September has banned abortions in that state after six weeks of pregnancy,” The Post noted.
Abortion rights activists slammed Coleman’s proposed measure, pointing out that it unconstitutionally allows states to write laws that go outside their jurisdictions, according to Raw Story.