Another day, another legislative assault on women in Missouri. This time it's a bill to ban abortion in cases of ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening emergency situation when the fetus becomes lodged in the fallopian tube. Neither the woman nor the fetus can survive a full-term pregnancy in such a case — meaning this bill could sentence both to death. This is "pro-life" activism in today's radicalized Missouri GOP.

House Bill 2810 seeks to outlaw the manufacture, sale or transfer of abortion-inducing equipment or drugs. The sponsor, Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, told a committee last week it's meant as pushback on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruling allowing women to order abortion inducing pills through the mail. That includes drugs used to abort ectopic pregnancies.

In response to questioning from other lawmakers, Seitz claimed his intent wasn't specifically to outlaw abortion of ectopic pregnancies. Then why does the bill specifically call for felony charges when "The abortion was performed or induced or was attempted to be performed or induced on a woman who has an ectopic pregnancy"? That's some pretty specific language.

It's certainly possible that medical ignorance came into play in the wording of the bill - after all, it arises from a state party that once ran a congressional candidate who declared that women can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape." But given Missouri Republicans' record on this topic lately, assumptions of good faith aren't really in order.

This is the party that, in 2019, passed a law (later blocked in court) outlawing abortion at eight weeks, when some women don't even know they're pregnant, even for rape victims. This is the party that is currently considering legislation to impose Missouri abortion restrictions on Missouri women even if they go to other states for the service — legislation that Mother Jones last week aptly compared to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

And this is the state in which elected officials actually consider abortion worthy of capital punishment. Seitz, when asked in committee debate whether he was suggesting abortion should be punishable by death, answered: "We'll have to look at that in other legislation."

Consider a Missouri in which these laws are all in force: A teenager is raped, but by the time she realizes she's pregnant, eight weeks has passed and she can't legally abort. Her pregnancy is ectopic, threatening her very life. But to abort would still be illegal. She flees to Illinois for an abortion, but Missouri law follows her there, punishing any Illinoisan who helps her. She manages to get an abortion anyway — and now she and/or her abortion providers face possible execution.

It sounds like dystopian fiction a la "The Handmaid's Tale" but is, in fact, the state these Republicans seek to create. Missouri's GOP today is, quite literally, a dire threat to Missouri's women.

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