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Tag: missouri republican
Missouri Republican Urges Death Penalty For Abortion Providers

Missouri Republican Urges Death Penalty For Abortion Providers

States across the country are introducing and passing legislation to limit abortion access. The moves in Republican majority states follow the passing of a Mississippi law, which is currently making its way to the Supreme Court. The law has the ability to limit abortion rights across the country by overturning Roe v. Wade. The most recent state to join those seeking to backtrack women’s rights is Missouri.

Missouri lawmakers are taking restricting abortion to the next level: They are not only stopping residents from obtaining abortions in state, but suggesting that those who travel in order to obtain them also be subject to lawsuits.

State Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman proposed a measure that would make performing an abortion on a Missouri resident—or even helping a Missouri resident get one—illegal. A similar law was passed in Texas, in which citizens were granted the ability to enforce the law through lawsuits.

“If your neighboring state doesn’t have pro-life protections, it minimizes the ability to protect the unborn in your state,” Coleman told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

According to the Post, Coleman’s measure would “target anyone even tangentially involved in an abortion performed on a Missouri resident, including the hotline staffers who make the appointments, the marketing representatives who advertise out-of-state clinics, and the Illinois- and Kansas-based doctors who handle the procedure. Her amendment also would make it illegal to manufacture, transport, possess, or distribute abortion pills in Missouri.”

Because the state has ended most surgical abortions, many women are traveling to Kansas or Illinois to seek care. Additionally, while the state has a ban on abortion after eight weeks, the state cannot enforce the ban while a legal challenge to the restriction makes its way through federal court. Coleman hopes abortion ends not just in Missouri but throughout the entire country. In 2021, Missouri only had one clinic in the entire state.

But Coleman isn’t the only GOP lawmaker in the state who has drastic penalties planned for those who have or help others with abortions.

During the debate for his bill that would make it a felony offense to transport or make available “abortion-inducing devices or drugs” in the Missouri, state Rep. Brian Seitz not only advocated for prison time for those in favor of abortion, but mentioned the death penalty. Seitz noted that he felt his proposal was not “strict enough” and would leave the conversation open in regard to implementing the death penalty for people facilitating abortions.

Although this may be shocking to hear, it’s not the first time a GOP lawmaker has expressed similar thoughts. In Texas, a lawmaker filed a bill that would not only abolish and criminalize abortions but leave those who perform the procedure to face criminal charges that could carry the death penalty.

Of course, like with other laws restricting abortions, there is a lack of exceptions. In this case, a greater penalty is placed on individuals who help people with ectopic pregnancies get abortion-inducing medication. According to the Mayo Clinic, “an ectopic pregnancy can cause your fallopian tube to burst open. Without treatment, the ruptured tube can lead to life-threatening bleeding.”

While these measures have the chance of being defeated, the impact remains. Many attorneys believe that the threat of the proposal alone may cause doctors in nearby states to stop performing abortions on Missouri residents.

But that is not the only issue to arise in Missouri. According to The Missouri Independent, lawmakers also introduced an amendment to a bill that creates a sexual assault survivors bill of rights in which “obscene” material would be criminalized in schools. The amendment is expected to derail the sexual assault survivors bill.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

GOP Missouri Politician’s Creepy Obsession With A Stripper

It’s an age-old story: Politician meets stripper, stripper talks to media, politician denies entire thing. Now, a prominent Tea Party member is finding himself in boiling water over his sketchy relations with a former Penthouse Pet and stripper.

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, who plans to run for governor in 2012, is scrambling to denounce rumors that he behaved inappropriately with Tammy Chapman while she was a stripper.

According to Chapman’s interview with the Riverfront Times, Kinder was obsessed with her 16 years ago while she was working at the Diamond Cabaret in Sauget, Illinois. The rising politician became a regular, visiting Chapman twice a week and bringing her letters and baked goods — evidently following the adage that the way to a stripper’s heart is through her stomach. Despite Kinder’s “sweet” attempts to woo Chapman, the stripper refused to attend political functions with him in his hometown, Cape Girardeau. But soon the politician’s infatuation took a turn for the sleazy:

“He became very aggressive with me,” she says. “I couldn’t tolerate what he was making me do.”

Chapman alleges that while she gave the state senator private dances, he would grab her by the shoulders and aggressively try to force her head into his lap. “He’d pull me down to his groin — really, really hard, to the point that it hurt me,” she says. Alarmed by his conduct and the letters he was writing, she told him not to come in any more. “I was willing to give up the money he gave me,” she says simply.

Even then, he’d visit. “He would show up and sit there and just ogle me,” Chapman recalls.

The visits and brownies eventually died off, and Chapman didn’t see Kinder for years. Most recently, the pair ran into each other at Verlin’s Bar and Grill — a joint known for its “pantsless parties.” Even though the two had long since ceased regular contact, Kinder invited Chapman to move into his apartment, which is paid for by his campaign committee. Chapman, who is a lesbian, declined. She says she’s been speaking to the media because she is disgusted that Kinder “uses his political business card to get women.”

Kinder responded to the reports with a statement released via his campaign, saying, “Like most people I am not proud of every place I have been, but this woman’s bizarre story is not true.”

But meanwhile, Missouri Republicans are raising eyebrows and questioning whether someone with such a tumultuous personal past is the ideal gubernatorial candidate.

True, Chapman was never married, so this isn’t another case of infidelity. But that doesn’t make the story any less creepy.

Aspiring politicians should take note: Think with the head on your shoulders, and keep your hands to yourself. Also, remember that you can’t woo a stripper with brownies.