A Republican state lawmaker in Missouri has introduced legislation that would create a “central registry” of pregnant people who are “at risk for seeking an abortion,” what the bill’s author called the makings of an “e-Harmony for babies” to match with adoptive families.
The legislation would also allow the state to share information from that database with law enforcement agencies, “including those outside of this state,” the bill states.
Republican state Rep. Phil Amato largely deferred questions about his “Save MO Babies Act” during a Children and Families Committee hearing to Gerard Harms, an adoption attorney who wrote the bill.
“We’re looking at something like e-Harmony for babies — mothers who want to put up their children need to match with prospective parents,” Harms told the committee Tuesday. “That’s exactly what the intent of this is. Against, inartfully drafted.”
Harms said participation is voluntary and would comply with all federal health privacy laws.
But skeptical state lawmakers and abortion rights advocates have raised alarms about data privacy protections and what amounts to “government surveillance” tracking people who could seek an abortion.
Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, said the legislation is a reminder of prior attempts from state officials to “track and surveil” pregnant people in the state, including a former state health department director’s admission that he tracked the menstrual cycles of Planned Parenthood patients.
“The flippant and disturbing remarks heard today about establishing ‘e-Harmony for babies’ encouraging prospective families to shop for children should ring alarm bells for everyone,” Schwarz said in a statement to The Independent.
“No pregnant person, no child is off the table for anti-abortion politicians to exploit in order to further their own power and control over our bodies, families, and futures,” she added.
Missouri House Democrats raged against the legislation on social media Monday night.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” a Facebook post from the Missouri House Democratic Caucus said.
“We have to imagine even conservative Missourians would be horrified by this idea,” the post added.
The Independent has requested comment from Amato.
His legislation would require the Division of Maternal and Child Resources within the state’s state’s Department of Social Services “to make and maintain a central registry of each expecting mother who is at risk for seeking an abortion and a central registry of each prospective adoptive parent who has successfully completed certain screenings, background checks, home studies, and other investigations to ensure the fit of the prospective parent to adopt a child.”
The division “can share records, information, and findings with federal, state, or local child welfare agency personnel and law enforcement agencies, including those outside of this state,” according to the bill.
The legislation follows a state court ruling that blocks restrictions on abortion access in the state, marking a major victory for abortion rights in the GOP-controlled state.
Missouri was among several states last year where voters approved ballot measures proposing state constitutional amendments to enshrine the right to abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned a constitutional right to abortion and punted abortion rights to individual states. In December, a judge ruled the state’s near-total abortion ban was unenforceable under the new amendment
Last week, a judge blocked “unnecessary” and “discriminatory” requirements for certain exams and tests that other healthcare providers do not have to perform.
There were more than 3,000 abortions in Missouri in 2022, according to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, the last year for which data was available — marking a 62 percent decrease from 1999, which saw more than 8,000 abortions.
Abortion rights advocates are bracing for Donald Trump’s administration's potential maneuvers around abortion care as he fills his presidential cabinet with anti-abortion figures and a Republican-dominated Congress revives efforts to target abortion access even in states where it is legally protected.
Last month, the president signed pardons for 23 anti-abortion activists who were convicted for violating a federal law that makes it a crime to block entrances to reproductive health clinics, while U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has visited with anti-abortion officials who want to target prescription abortion drugs. Trump’s administration also removed reproductive healthcare information from government websites.
The administration’s reinstatement of the so-called “global gag rule” and threats to foreign aid have also significantly disrupted reproductive healthcare globally.
Nearly three years after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, nearly half of U.S. states ban or severely restrict access to abortion.
