Missouri enacts 72-hour abortion wait period
* Eroding rights continues:
Lawmakers overrule governor's veto; state joins Utah and South Dakota as only states requiring women to wait 72 hours
September 11, 2014 3:27AM ET
Missouri lawmakers enacted one of the nation's most stringent abortion waiting periods Wednesday, overriding a veto of legislation that will require women to wait 72 hours after consulting with a doctor before ending a pregnancy.
The vote by Missouri's Republican-led legislature overrules the veto of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who had denounced the measure as "extreme and disrespectful" toward women because it contains no exception for cases of rape or incest.
About half of the states, including Missouri, already have abortion waiting periods of 24 hours.
The new measure fits the pattern of a series of restrictions promoted by anti-abortion advocates, who seek to discourage women from undergoing an abortion by limiting access. While initiatives to overturn Roe v. Wade — the 1973 court order that struck down many laws banning abortion — have broadly failed, measures such as requiring parental consent and mandatory waiting periods have passed in many states across the United States.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/11/missouri-lawmakersenact72hourabortionwait.html
