Missouri GOP Wants To Overturn St. Louis Cat Declawing Bans

After outlawing abortion and advancing numerous bills to restrict transgender rights, Missouri Republicans have finally drawn a line in the sand. Now they're saying local governments have no right to control or restrict medicine — veterinary medicine, that is.

Yesterday, the Missouri Senate voted to perfect a bill that would nullify ordinances in St. Louis City and St. Louis County that ban cat declawing, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The bill's sponsor, Senator Justin Brown (R-Rolla), told the daily that ordinances banning cat declawing "interferes with the patient-client relationship with the practitioner."

Brown continued to say, "I think that [declawing] needs to be between the practicing veterinarian and the owner of the pet."

*A moment to release the longest of sighs.*

The irony of Brown's argument would be laughable if Missouri's political landscape wasn't already so damn depressing.

An increasing number of cities have outlawed declawing as the practice is widely considered as cruel and inhumane. It's the equivalent of cutting off a person's fingers at the first knuckle, according to PETA.

But besides that, where's this respect for medical discretion been for pregnant people or trans kids?

LGBTQ+ Missourians have traveled to the state's capitol for weeks to testify against the 34 bills targeted at the community.  Testifiers have the same and simple message: Let them live their lives without the state butting in. But yeah, let's make sure the local governments don't interfere with veterinarian's patient-client relationships.

Yesterday's vote was just preliminary approval for Brown's bill. The bill still has a few rounds of voting to go through before it has a shot at making it to the governor's desk.

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