IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
A RESOLUTION in support of abortion rights and other reproductive rights and in opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and urging federal elected officials to codify abortion rights and other reproductive rights.
RESOLUTION NO. 21007, July 18, 2022
INTRODUCED BY Crystal Williams, Tony Miller, Jalen Anderson, Ronald E. Finley, and
Scott Burnett, County Legislators
WHEREAS, on June 24, 2022, thousands gathered in communities across the United States, including here in Jackson County, to protest that day’s decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that had protected the freedom to seek an abortion since 1973; and,
WHEREAS, the Dobbs decision takes away a right guaranteed to the people of this country by the Constitution for the first time our history; and,
WHEREAS, in a particularly startling concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the Supreme Court should also revisit its precedents that legalized artificial contraception, LGBTQ intimate relations, and LGBTQ marriage; and,
WHEREAS, laws restricting access to abortion disproportionately impact poor and working-class women and women of color, because women of means have the resources to pay a private doctor exorbitant fees or travel to locations where quality reproductive healthcare is available; and,
WHEREAS, the Dobbs decision triggered an absolute ban on abortion health care in Missouri, with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, and with narrow exceptions for the life of pregnant women and girls, thereby guaranteeing pregnant people will suffer untold indignities, negative health consequences, and death; and,
WHEREAS, while abortion has been legal nationwide since 1973, working-class women
and LGBTQ people have continued to have only limited access to reproductive
healthcare, as a result of the inequity and inefficiency of the private, for-profit healthcare
and health insurance industries; and,
WHEREAS, Governor Mike Parson suggested pregnant Missouri residents could simply leave the state for abortion health care, while knowing Missouri legislators have already introduced legislation forbidding pregnant women from leaving the state; and,
WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that pressure from mass movements can affect and has affected past U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which are not simply mechanical applications of legal text; and,
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court that decided Roe v. Wade by a 7-2 vote in 1973 was also majority Republican-appointed, but ruled in favor of abortion rights under pressure from the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which was itself emboldened by the powerful movements for Black freedom and against the war in Vietnam; and,
WHEREAS, in recent years mass movements in Argentina, Ireland, Mexico, and Israel have overturned anti-abortion laws and won new reproductive rights; and,
WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that access to abortion, bodily autonomy, and other personal rights can be won and defended if there is a sufficiently powerful grassroots social movement; and,
WHEREAS, Missouri and Jackson County are already suffering negative economic fallout from businesses and events declining to enter the state; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the County Legislature of Jackson County, Missouri, that the Legislature is firmly opposed to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges federal elected officials to enact legislation codifying the full right to abortion and other reproductive healthcare nationwide and urges progressive Democrats in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to use their full power, not only to vote for such legislation, but also to fight to end the filibuster and use their resources to build mass grassroots action to pass it; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature strongly supports the grassroots organizing and movement building required to put social pressure on elected officials and the judiciary to defend against this historic attack on the rights of women and pregnant people; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges the County Administration to take all steps available and necessary to ensure that County associates continue to have legal access to reproductive health services through the County’s employee group health insurance.
Effective Date: This Resolution shall be effective immediately upon its passage by a majority of the Legislature.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
________________________________ ________________________________
Chief Deputy County Counselor County Counselor
Certificate of Passage
I hereby certify that the attached resolution, Resolution No. 21007 of July 18, 2022, was duly passed on July 18, 2022 by the Jackson County Legislature. The votes thereon were as follows:
Yeas _______5__________ Nays ______2________
Abstaining _____1________ Absent _____1_______
_________________ ________________________________
Date Mary Jo Spino, Clerk of Legislature