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Missouri GOP Sen. Koenig breaks down abortion-regulations bill ahead of special session resuming

Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester
Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester

On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking podcast, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies welcome back Sen. Andrew Koenig to the program.

Koenig is a Manchester Republicanandthe main sponsor of abortion legislation that’s being considered inthe Missouri legislature’s current (though interrupted) special session. Senators are expected to return onMonday.

Among other things,Koenig’s billwould allow Missouri’s attorney general to file lawsuits if a clinic violates the state’s abortion laws.As it stands now, only local prosecutors can take such action.

Sen. Andrew Koenig joins St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies on Politically Speaking.

The legislation also would require doctors — not social workers or nurse practitioners — to explain medical risks to a woman seeking an abortion. It would also require the Department of Health and Senior Services to conduct unannounced, annual inspections of clinics.

Another provision of the bill focuses on a St. Louis ordinance barring employment and housing discrimination based onwhethera womanhas had an abortion or takes contraception. News outlets previously misrepresented what’s in the bill, so Koenig took care to note that he’s seeking to make sure pregnancy resource centers, which discourage women from having abortions, aren’t discriminated against.

Koenig said he plans to passhis billwithoutmakingchanges. If that happens,the legislation will go to Gov. Eric Greitens’ desk.

Here’s what Koenig had to say during the show:

  • Koenig saidhis billdoes notcompletely overturnSt. Louis’ anti-discrimination ordinance. That means, in Koenig’s view, employers who are not religiously affiliated will still need to comply with St. Louis’ protections. "So this notion that someone can be fired just for taking birth control is false and is not something that is part of the bill," he said.
  • He said it’s possible thattheprovision authorizing the attorney general to bring legal action against abortion clinics might not get used if Missouri residentselect an AG whosupports abortion rights.
  • Koenig said Democrats may filibuster his legislation when special session resumes. If that happens, Koenig said it’s likely that Republicans will usea procedureto cut off debate.
  • Greitens issued an executive order Monday setting up a prescription drug monitoring database. Koenig said he is skeptical theprogram will work. “We have 49 states that do this and we’remiddle of the roadwhen it comes to opioid deaths,” he said.


Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter:@jrosenbaum

Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter:@jmannies

Follow Andrew Koenig on Twitter:@Koenig4MO

Music: "More Than This" by Roxy Music

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Since entering the world of professional journalism in 2006, Jason Rosenbaum dove head first into the world of politics, policy and even rock and roll music. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rosenbaum spent more than four years in the Missouri State Capitol writing for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Lawyers Media and the St. Louis Beacon.
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.