Missouri lawmakers passed a law requiring women to wait three days for an abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, overriding an earlier veto from Gov. Jay Nixon, according to The Associated Press.
Nixon vetoed the bill to extend the minimum waiting period before a woman could have an abortion after an initial visit to a doctor to 72 hours from 24 hours in July, but an override of the veto was put in play by the state's Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representative, the AP reported.
The house passed the measure by 117 to 44 and the senate by 23 to 7, according to the AP. Nixon said the recently passed bill showed a "callous disregard for women who find themselves in horrific circumstances."
"Another 48 hours could very well be the difference between a life saved and a life ended," Senator David Sater, who sponsored the bill, told the Star, the AP reported. "Knowing that a life is at stake, this is the least we can do for these children."
With the veto, Missouri joins Utah and South Dakota as the only states in the country requiring women to wait 72 hours, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports the right to abortion, according to the AP.
Utah's law does not require a 72-hour waiting period for victims of rape or incest and does not require a wait if a girl is aged 14 or younger, Guttmacher said, the AP reported.
"Tonight's vote represents the latest intrusion of politicians into a woman's private medical decisions," Jeffrey Mittman, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri executive director, said in a statement, according to the AP.
The abortion bill was one of the most prominent Republican victories in a record-setting September session, during which Missouri lawmakers also overrode 47 line-item budget vetoes and nine other bills, including one creating a training program for teachers to carry guns in schools, the AP reported.
