Missouri Bill Wants To Track Pregnant Women "At Risk Of Abortion"
The bill also creates a corollary list of prospective adopters, which the author categorized as “eHarmony for babies.”
Nearly three years after the fall of Roe v Wade, states are still determining what abortion access looks like. Some states have sought to expand access while others have severely limited the procedure’s very legality.
Recently, a Missouri politician has sought a novel and unorthodox approach to reducing the number of abortions in the state. House Bill 807 — the Save MO Babies Act— introduced by Republican state representative Phil Amato, seeks to create a state-run registry of any mother “who is at risk for seeking an abortion.” The bill does not outline how that “risk” would be determined or who would make that determination.
The list would be managed by the Maternal and Child Services division of the Department of Social Services, which would be empowered to hire outside contractors, to whom the bill provides “qualified immunity from civil liability for providing such services.”
Reporter Jessica Valenti, who covers abortion rights, and others have suggested this opens the door for states to partner with “crisis pregnancy centers,” anti-abortion organizations that are often affiliated with religious institutions and adoption agencies. In Republican-led states like Missouri, such centers have seen increased government support and funding in recent years.
This bill would also create a registry of prospective adoptive parents who had been approved via “certain screenings, background checks, home studies, and other investigations.” Those potential adopters would have access to the list of “at risk” pregnant people. The idea is that the state — via contractors — would facilitate ensuing adoptions.
Gerard Harms, an adoption attorney, wrote the bill (which he categorized as “very inartfully drafted”) and presented it to the Committee on Children and Families alongside Amato.
“We’re looking at something like eHarmony for babies,” he said, to the apparent shock of several committee members. “Mothers who want to put up their children need to match with prospective parents.”
Of course, as far as we can tell nobody on eHarmony was signed up by their state government because they were “at risk” of not dating. So it’s not a particularly accurate analogy.
In November, Missouri was one of several states to enshrine the right to an abortion into the state constitution after enduring a near total ban after the fall of Roe v Wade in 2022. HB 807 would go into effect in July 2026 if passed.
