DANNY WICENTOWSKI
Republican state Senator Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), shown here at an anti-abortion rally in St. Louis in 2021.
Missouri state Senator Mike Moon, who definitely does not support adults marrying children despite gaining nationwide notoriety for implying just that, would like women who get abortions to be charged with murder.
Last month, the Ash Grove Republican got in an argument with state Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis), who was taking him to task for introducing legislation that would prevent trans youth from getting gender-affirming care. Moon's argument was that we need to protect the kids. Merideth wondered why, if Moon was so into protecting the kids, he voted against raising the legal age of marriage in 2018 from 12 to 15.
"Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12?" Moon asked Merideth, who said he did not. "I do, and guess what? They're still married."
Moon thought he'd dunked on Merideth, but instead, he horrified a nation when the clip went viral. Moon later clarified his child bride comments by saying that he knows kids shouldn't marry adults, but each other? Totally cool. Now, the guy who thinks an 11 year old marrying a 12 year old due to an unplanned pregnancy was a great idea, has introduced legislation that would grant an unborn fetus the same rights as a person, thus making terminating a pregnancy a murder, according to the Kansas City Star.
Moon, who has also voted for public schools to teach Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament and voted against requiring forensic testing of rape kits upon request of the victim, authored the bill, called the "Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act," which doesn't address Missourians getting abortions out of state.
According to the bill's language, a human being includes "an unborn child at every stage of development from the moment of fertilization until birth."
Pro-Choice Missouri executive director Mallory Schwarz, who as far we know never had to clarify her comments on child marriage, told the Star that "criminalizing someone’s support system, their doctors, their friends, family, partners that may assist them in getting access to needed abortion care creates a culture of shame.”
Under Moon's law, a woman who was raped and aborted the fetus could go to prison longer than her rapist. Moon would probably just advocate for everyone to get married if someone gets pregnant, because hey, look how it turned out for those kids he knows.
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