Missouri Laws 188.058 – Abortion prohibited after eighteen weeks gestational age, exception for ..
1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no abortion shall be performed or induced upon a woman at eighteen weeks gestational age or later, except in cases of medical emergency. Any person who knowingly performs or induces an abortion of an unborn child in violation of this subsection shall be guilty of a class B felony, as well as subject to suspension or revocation of his or her professional license by his or her professional licensing board. A woman upon whom an abortion is performed or induced in violation of this section shall not be prosecuted for a conspiracy to violate the provisions of this section.
2. It shall be an affirmative defense for any person alleged to have violated the provisions of subsection 1 of this section that the person performed or induced an abortion because of a medical emergency. The defendant shall have the burden of persuasion that the defense is more probably true than not.
Attorney's Note
Under the Missouri Laws, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class B felony | between 5 and 15 years |
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 188.058
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Gestational age: length of pregnancy as measured from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period. See Missouri Laws 188.015
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Medical emergency: a condition which, based on reasonable medical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert the death of the pregnant woman or for which a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. See Missouri Laws 188.015
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Unborn child: the offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until birth and at every stage of its biological development, including the human conceptus, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo, and fetus. See Missouri Laws 188.015
3. Prosecution under this section shall bar prosecution under section* 188.056, 188.057, or 188.375 if prosecution under such sections would violate the provisions of Amendment V to the Constitution of the United States or Article I, § 19 of the Constitution of Missouri.
4. If any one or more provisions, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words of this section or the application thereof to any person, circumstance, or period of gestational age is found to be unenforceable, unconstitutional, or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the same is hereby declared to be severable and the balance of the section shall remain effective notwithstanding such unenforceability, unconstitutionality, or invalidity. The general assembly hereby declares that it would have passed this section, and each provision, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more provisions, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words of the section, or the application of the section to any person, circumstance, or period of gestational age, would be declared unenforceable, unconstitutional, or invalid.