NEWS FLASH

Missouri Attepts To Limit Women’s Access To Abortion-Inducing Drug | Legislators in Missouri are debating a bill that would add even greater regulations to doctors who provide medical abortions, making it more difficult for a clinic to meet the requirements to provide the abortion-inducing medication, RU-486. The state House passed the bill Tuesday that would require a doctor — not a nurse — to “perform a physical examination of the woman at least 24 hours before prescribing” the drug. Doctors would also have to have clinical privileges at a nearby hospital and privileges to intervene with surgery if necessary at the hospital or clinic where the drug was given. And physicians who prescribe RU-486 would have to carry an additional medical malpractice insurance policy. This bill extends TRAP laws designed to restrict abortions to first-trimester medical abortions with the overly burdensome regulations that will do little other than cut down the number of doctors who can provide RU-486 and force women to wait later to terminate their pregnancies.