Which Kansas City-area prosecutors will enforce Missouri abortion ban? Some won’t say

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, a Democrat, has said she will not use her office’s valuable time and limited resources to take legal action against abortion providers.

In contrast, Republican Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd will use discretion to enforce a Missouri law that bans the procedure in almost all instances.

“As required by my oath of office, I will enforce Missouri law as enacted by the legislature subject to any constitutional limitations, while also retaining the prosecutorial discretion to consider the facts of every case individually,” Zahnd told us in a written statement.

Abortions are illegal in Missouri, except for medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. The ban was triggered by last week’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established abortion as a constitutional right.

The vote to overturn Roe revoked a woman’s right to choose whether to give birth and returned the issue to the state level. Under Missouri’s trigger law passed in 2019, the state attorney general and elected local prosecutors around the state have authority to prosecute abortions as crimes.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will likely use the measure to score cheap political points and force women to travel out of state to obtain the medical procedure.

But what about top law enforcement officials in our region? Will they use valuable resources to prosecute abortion providers in the Kansas City area?

Like all prosecutors in Missouri, Baker has prosecutorial discretion and she will use it “to limit the erosion of reproductive rights,” she said in May on behalf of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

“We oppose the criminalization of abortion,” Baker, the group’s co-chair, wrote then.

Jackson County’s prosecutor gets it. No one should be allowed to make a choice about a woman’s body but a woman.

Under Missouri law, it is impossible to prosecute a woman for having an abortion, Zahnd said. “On the contrary, Missouri law repeatedly states that a woman upon whom an abortion is performed shall not be prosecuted,” he wrote.

But will he prosecute those helping women end an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy?

“It’s impossible for me to speculate how I might treat any specific case until I am presented with all of the facts of that case,” Zahnd wrote.

We appreciate Zahnd’s willingness to answer questions. Cass County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Butler, a Republican, has been quiet on the issue. He did not return our messages seeking comment. And Clay County Prosecutor Dan White, a Democrat, hasn’t responded, either.

But we remain skeptical about a case-by-case approach on the matter, which opens the door for discriminatory practices and other unfair decisions that could negatively impact Black and Hispanic people at a disproportionate rate.

Across the state, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell joined more than 80 prosecutors who signed a statement promising not to prosecute abortion crimes.

Even though women in Kansas have a state constitutional right to an abortion, Douglas County Kansas District Attorney Suzanne Valdez signed the pledge, too.

In Wyandotte County, Democratic District Attorney Mark Dupree is in wait-and-see mode. Voters will decide whether to allow the Legislature to restrict reproductive rights with a constitutional amendment on the Aug. 2 ballot.

Here is a simple message for Kansas City-area prosecutors: Be transparent. If you going to prosecute abortion providers, say that. If not, make the pledge not to.