JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – State Rep. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, this week filed HB 1014, which seeks to add an exhibit on the history of abortion to the state museum.
Called the “Never Again Act,” the legislation directs the created exhibit to be placed near the existing exhibit displaying the state’s history of slavery.
Moon has been a staunch opponent of abortion, having filed several pieces of legislation on the matter during his four-year tenure in the House. Most recently, HJR 18, his “personhood” legislation, which seeks to put an all-out ban on abortions, passed through the House Committee on Children and Families. It has now been referred to the House Committee on Rules – Legislative Oversight.
Moon says the exhibit would display tools used in abortions, and how they were used and the effects those tools have on the aborted victims.
Many of the tools that would be loaned to the museum can be seen on abortioninstruments.com.
“The number of lives lost by abortion is more than we lost during slavery and during the Holocaust,” Moon said. “We need to start looking at abortion in the same light as we do both of those tragic events.”
HB 1014 now awaits assignment to committee for further discussion.
Sen. Jill Schupp had strong words for the representative’s bill on Thursday.
“The phrase ‘Never Again’ refers to the Holocaust, where millions of people, six million Jews alone and six million non-Jews were killed,” Schupp, who is Jewish, said. “To equate that with Rep. Moon’s bill is unconscionable. What he wants to do that has to do with a woman’s access to reproductive rights has nothing to do with the tragedy and travesty of the Holocaust. I resent him using that terminology as a way to express his displeasure with the idea of a woman’s access.”
“Quite frankly, if we would focus on some of the things that bring us together, and focus on the priorities of our state, we would be far better off, and this does us absolutely no good,” House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty added.
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
