2017 has already not been a stellar year for reproductive rights, and it looks like things could be getting worse. Refinery29 reports that the Missouri State Senate is in the process of trying to pass a bill that, among other things, would make it completely legal for employers and landlords to discriminate against a woman who is pregnant, has had an abortion or uses birth control.
The bill would overturn a law that was passed in St. Louis in February that added reproductive health decisions to the list of reasons people couldn't be discriminated against when applying for housing or a job - which essentially translates to allowing companies to fire women becuase they are pregnant or allowing landlords to deny housing to women who use contraception. Not okay.
Alison Dreith, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, called lawmakers "shameful," telling the Kansas City Star, "Passing further restrictions on women’s access to abortion in the dark of night is shameful, at best,” she said. “Republican senators know this, or they would have allowed the hundreds of people rallying at the Capitol on Wednesday take part in the process.”
The bill would also place stricter regulations on abortion clinics throughout the state and allows Missouri's state attorney general to enforce them.
The bill isn't law yet, and hopefully won't become law - but even the thought that these kinds of restrictions could be placed on women, simply because of what they choose to do with their bodies, is seriously scary.
