Missouri enacts 72-hour waiting period for abortion

From The New York Times:

The Republican-controlled Missouri legislature has enacted one of the most stringent waiting periods for women seeking abortions, overriding a veto by the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon.

The bill, which will take effect next month, increases to 72 hours, from 24, the amount of time a woman must wait to undergo an abortionafter first receiving counseling. It does not make exceptions for rape or incest. The vote came late Wednesday night at the end of a grueling session in the Capitol, in Jefferson City, where lawmakers set a record in overriding 47 budget line-item vetoes. Before this year, the legislature had overridden only two budget line-item vetoes in state history, according to the House research department. Lawmakers also overrode 10 vetoes on bills other than the budget, increasing the total for the year to 11, the second most on record.

The most controversial were the abortion measure and one that bans municipalities from preventing people with concealed-carry permits from openly carrying guns.

Utah and South Dakota are the only other states that require 72-hour waits, according to Elizabeth Nash at the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. In Utah, exceptions are allowed for rape or incest, unlike in South Dakota and Missouri. In South Dakota, the wait can be longer because weekends and holidays do not count toward the waiting period.

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