Missouri Republicans Hate Women.
About the unethical breach of the people’s will invoked by Missouri Republicans, who have overturned a recently passed bill strengthening the right to an abortion
After the election in November 2024, it didn’t seem like there was much to look forward to. Trump was elected in a landslide, Republicans gained control of the Senate and House, and missile strikes hit Ukraine, Lebanon, and Gaza in the same day. To many, it felt downright apocalyptic.
But there were some silver linings here and there - Sarah McBride was elected to Congress, the first openly transgender representative. Andy Kim, the first Korean American Senator, was elected. And most promisingly, ballot initiatives were passed that strengthened reproductive rights across the country in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada and New York, on top of measures for paid sick leave in Alaska and Nebraska.
Notably, one state that did both of these things was Missouri. According to The Latin Times, Missouri voters overcame ”one of the strictest abortion bans” in America, by voting for a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to make decisions about reproductive healthcare - which includes, notably, abortion.
“This victory makes Missouri the first state to reverse a total abortion ban at the ballot box, citing a significant shift in abortion politics,” they wrote at the time.
It was a genuinely shocking, albeit promising, development in the deeply red state of Missouri, which went 57% for Trump to Biden’s 41%. For many around the country who were concerned after the election about the future of reproductive rights in the United States, Missouri teaming up with numerous other states to strengthen the right to an abortion was a breath of fresh air in a country engulfed by the toxic mist of MAGA.
That may soon no longer be the case as of May 14, 2025, since Missouri Senate Republicans have invoked an archaic rule in order to strike down the will of the people.
That comes from Rudi Keller and Clara Bates at The Missouri Independent, who report that Republicans in the Senate have used a rule known as “calling the previous question,” or PQ for short, to create a voter referendum to kill the abortion rights amendment, as well as the paid sick leave law. Again, both of which were APPROVED BY VOTERS. You see, Republicans had put an all-out abortion ban up for a vote, to which the Democrats in the Senate immediately held a filibuster against - only for PQ, which “requires a signed motion from 10 members and forces an immediate vote on the bill under debate,” to kill the filibuster.
PQ was used again on the sick leave repeal, and now, once again, reproductive rights and the right to a safe abortion are under attack in Missouri. According to ABC News, this now means that abortion is back on the ballot in November 2026 in Missouri - or possibly even sooner, if Governor Mike Kehoe calls a special election.
“If it passes, HJR 73 would prohibit abortions, except in cases of medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape or incest,” Nadine El-Bawab and Mary Kekatos write. “If the abortion is due to rape or incest, it must occur no later than 12 weeks' gestation, according to the bill.”
It is downright draconian, and absolutely unethical, to overturn the will of the people in this way. THIS WAS A SETTLED MATTER, CODIFIED IN A CIRCUIT COURT BACK IN DECEMBER - and now, just like that… it’s not? And the same goes for the sick leave bill, which not only eliminates paid sick leave in the state, but also “removes the requirement that the minimum wage be indexed to inflation,” according to the Missouri Independent, a clause Missouri’s had on the books since 2007. This bill, known as Proposition A, won by 58% of the vote with overwhelming support from unions and business owners alike - yet according to the GOP, paid sick leave is a “job killer.” That’s not true.
In fact, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, citing two extensive studies on paid sick leave in America, the OPPOSITE is true, writing, “Paid sick leave laws…improve public health by reducing the spread of illness, and their costs to businesses are extremely modest—generally requiring no measurable change to business practices.”
And then later in the study, conclude:
“[P]aid sick leave mandates serve an important role in supporting workforce attachment, particularly among workers whose employers are less likely to voluntarily provide this benefit. The health benefits of paid sick leave policy led to the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act in 2021. Our new evidence that paid sick leave policies impact on hours worked may have implications for workers seeking to reach eligibility thresholds for other workplace policies, such as paid family leave and employer-supported health insurance, that support worker productivity and well-being.”
But to bring all of this full circle, I want to talk about the first of the two papers the study investigated. In the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Meredith Slopen analyzes paid sick leave policies’ effects on how much women earn from their jobs. Slopen comes to the conclusion that women, who historically are less likely to work jobs with paid sick leave, are actually 1.2% more likely to hold steady jobs when given paid sick leave - with the effects being “strongest among mothers and women without college degrees.”
I’m left with no choice but to conclude, based on the evidence, that Missouri Republicans hate women and do not want them to have control over their own bodies or employment. Why else would laws that grant independence for both of those things die on the vine in the same day?
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When you go back to the polls to vote they need to vote these jackssses out of office.
yes dean!! you inspired me so unbelievably much to get into politics. cant thank you enough for helping people understand right and wrong. love you bro, and never stop doing what you’re doing. You’re making a difference in the world.