JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A top Missouri prosecutor says he doesn’t believe women will be charged with felonies for seeking abortions under a new state law.
Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys President Tim Lohmar told The Associated Press Friday that it’s clear to prosecutors that charging pregnant women was not lawmakers’ intent when they passed the law.
Lohmar says he “can’t imagine any prosecutor in their right mind” would prosecute pregnant women under the new law.
The law is set to kick in Aug. 28. It bars abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that state public defender Comptroller K. Kathleen Lear in a memo wrote that the law could mean women who receive medication abortions face felony charges.
Critics have argued the law will target women who are eight weeks or more pregnant who go out of state for a medication abortion, then take the pill in Missouri. Republican lawmakers who drafted the bill disagree.
