Schmitt, Parson offer assurances on contraception, but Democrats want legal opinion

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Gov. Mike Parson both offered assurances Wednesday that the state’s abortion ban didn’t prohibit contraception after a Kansas City area health system stopped providing Plan B.

Saint Luke’s Health System said late Tuesday it had stopped offering emergency contraception at its Missouri locations because of the ban, which went into effect on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“Missouri law does not prohibit the use or provision of Plan B, or contraception,” Schmit spokesman Chris Nuelle said.

Schmitt and Parson, both Republicans, were jointly responsible for triggering Missouri’s abortion ban on Friday by signing documents allowing that part of state law to go into effect. In addition, Schmitt, a candidate for U.S. Senate, has the power to prosecute violations of the ban, along with local prosecutors.

Both men faced intense pressure Wednesday to clarify their positions on contraception following Saint Luke’s decision.

Parson’s office released a lengthier and less direct statement than Schmitt. Kelli Jones, a spokeswoman for Parson, said nothing in either the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision or in the abortion ban makes individual drugs illegal.

“An abortion is defined in Missouri law as taking action with the intent to destroy an embryo or fetus,” Jones said. “Abortion and contraception are different things, one ends life while the other prevents pregnancy. A medical professional’s intent when prescribing medication is always relevant to the lawfulness of their action.”

Parson’s distinction between abortion and contraception appeared to indicate that his office doesn’t view the use of Plan B and other drugs as abortion.

Still, concerns have been building that Missouri law is ambiguous and leaves open the possibility of prosecuting women or doctors over the use of birth control. A memo by Joe Bednar, an attorney at the law firm Spencer Fane, posted online over the weekend argued Missouri law could be interpreted as defining the start of pregnancy as the date of the woman’s last menstrual period – not the moment when the egg is fertilized.

Under that definition, any use of Plan B with an intention other than to increase the the probability of live birth could constitute an abortion, according to the law.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, on Wednesday requested Schmitt to issue a formal legal opinion about whether state law allows women to be prosecuted for using contraception. She also released a legal analysis by her office that says the use of contraceptives remains fully legal.

“In the absence of state guidance, however, there is a real danger a politically ambitious or ideologically motivated prosecutor could file malicious criminal charges over contraception use,” Quade said in a statement. “That’s why it is imperative for the attorney general to unequivocally explain to all Missourians how he interprets the law and how he intends to enforce it.”