While the St. Louis County Council quietly defeated a measure last week that would have allocated $1 million to help women secure abortions out of state, Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued the city of St. Louis after its Board of Aldermen moved forward with its plan to do the same.
“I’ve tirelessly fought to uphold the sanctity of life in Missouri,” Schmitt said. “The move by the City of St. Louis to use taxpayer dollars to help push out-of-state abortions plainly and clearly violates Missouri law.”
On July 15, 2022, the aldermen approved Board Bill 61 (BB61), which authorizes $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to reimburse pregnant women who travel out of state for abortions through a Reproductive Equity Fund.
BB61 requires city employees in its Department of Health to create and manage the fund, which Schmitt's lawsuit alleges will result in public employees assisting or encouraging abortion by processing claims for public funds to cover costs incurred in obtaining abortions.
"My office today filed suit to put a stop to Mayor Jones and the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s blatantly illegal move to spend Missourians’ hard-earned tax dollars on out-of-state abortions," Schmitt said.
Like the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen, St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy (D-District 5) called for $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to be allocated to nonprofits for the facilitation of transportation and lodging for pregnant women seeking an abortion outside of Missouri.
But the county council voted 4-3 against the proposal on July 19.
“Those who voted against these ideas have said all along that it's unlawful to use any tax dollars, federal or state, for any sort of abortion services and they know that, but they wanted to try to do it for symbolic reasons to show the community they were fighting back against the reversal of Roe v Wade,” said Councilman Tim Fitch (R-District 3). “It was just a political statement on their part.”
Councilwoman Shalonda Webb (D-District 4) joined Fitch and two other Republican councilmembers in voting against Clancy’s measure.
“Lisa Clancy put in the bill that she wanted money for abortion travel costs and to purchase infant formula for needy women who can’t afford infant formula,” Fitch told the St. Louis Record. “Those are two completely different issues and she commingled them into the same bill. I think that's what ultimately doomed it.”
Councilwomen Rita Heard Days (D-District 1), Kelli Dunaway (D-District 2), and Clancy were the three councilmembers who voted in favor of the proposal and lost.
“Even though Shalonda Webb is pro-choice, she was not in favor of the allocation unless the entire community could tap into it and abortion only affects a small number of people,” Fitch added. “She made those comments before she voted No. So, the three Republicans voted no, and Shalanda Webb voted no.”