JEFFERSON CITY — Lucas Kunce and Trudy Busch Valentine, the two highest-profile Democrats running for U.S. Senate in Missouri, both looked to harness Democratic voter energy Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.
“I’m a nurse and a mother. All my life, I’ve worked to help others,†Busch Valentine said Tuesday. “I have always believed women deserve quality, compassionate health care — including access to contraception and abortion care.â€
Valentine’s statement that she’s “always believed†in access to abortion could play a growing role in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary as voters focus on the issue. A leak from the Supreme Court on Monday showed a conservative majority was poised to leave abortion rights up to states, which would trigger an immediate end to most abortions in Missouri.
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Kunce, during his first campaign for public office in 2006,  as a “pretty conservative Democrat†opposed to abortion. But on Tuesday, he noted how his views have evolved.
“I grew up in a pro-life family, but I’ve seen firsthand what countries without individual freedoms look like when I served in Iraq and Afghanistan,†Kunce said on Tuesday. “This Big Brother stuff has no place in America.â€
Pro-Choice Missouri, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, has yet to make an endorsement in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary, .
Following the leak, first reported by Politico, both Kunce and Valentine called for Congress to protect access to abortion in federal law.
Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Pro-Choice Missouri, described the current Democratic race as “tight and contested.â€
“The Pro-Choice Missouri PAC will continue to deliberate before they make a decision on which candidate we think can best serve the interests of Missourians in Washington, D.C.,†she said.
Schwarz said Pro-Choice Missouri wouldn’t hold a candidate’s past views against them.
“In a state like Missouri, so many people grow up indoctrinated into the anti-abortion mindset that so many of our schools forced on young people,†she said. “There is all of the room in the world for someone to change their mind.
“... We welcome folks into our movement always,†Schwarz said, “but we need the commitment to reproductive health rights and justice to be authentic to be about our collective fight for liberation and not be a position taken for political opportunism.â€
Political forecast
Democrats are looking to capitalize on the issue during what appears to be an otherwise dim year politically for the party.
But opinions differ as to how any decision striking Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made access to abortion a constitutionally protected right, would resonate in conservative Missouri.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, a two-term Missouri Democrat, said the decision should matter in every state election due to a 2019 anti-abortion law Republicans approved.
It includes a “trigger†outlawing nearly all abortions in the event the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
“What has happened in Missouri is far from the mainstream,†McCaskill said Tuesday. “And I don’t think most Missourians realize how extreme it is. But they will now.â€
“It should have an impact on every race that’s run in the state,†she said.
James Harris, a Republican consultant, doubted Democratic claims of extremism would resonate.
“Democrats try to label Republican candidates as extremists routinely,†he said. “But in Missouri, time and time again, it does not work.â€
“It’s a good thing for whoever wins the Republican primary because Missouri is a majority pro-life state,†said Jean Evans, a former state representative and executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.
She said a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could help Democrats compete in some suburban legislative races, where voters are more supportive of abortion rights.
Evans said Democrats are already attempting to mobilize donors and voters.
“Quite frankly, they need something because on every major issue nationally, they’re trailing popular opinion,†she said. “Their base is also disenchanted with the administration.â€
McCaskill said past actions by Missouri lawmakers would factor into even more issues if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
She said because Missouri law , a decision by the high court to overturn the right to an abortion “casts a very long shadow on the ability to have IVF, in vitro fertilization.
“It even casts a shadow on the ability to use an IUD or to take a morning-after pill if you’ve been raped,†she said.
“In half the country, unless voters, you know, change things, there will be a lot of scared, very young women that have been victims of rape and incest that will have nowhere to go,†McCaskill said.
Nationwide, Americans are more likely to hold mixed views on abortion than believe strongly the procedure ought to be banned or allowed, according to Gallup polling.
Forty-eight percent of Americans who participated in a Gallup survey last year supported legal abortions “only under certain circumstances,†while 32% of Americans expressed support for abortions “under any circumstances.†Nineteen percent wanted to outlaw abortions in all cases.
In Missouri, according to a Remington Research Group survey published in June, 64% of likely 2022 general election voters surveyed described themselves as “generally pro-life†while 30% of voters said they were “generally pro-choice.â€
Republicans embrace decision
Major Republicans running for U.S. Senate embraced the potential decision.
“The implications of the Heartbeat Bill could soon become a reality in Missouri, which would be a major victory in the pursuit of protecting innocent life,†said Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, who voted for the 2019 Missouri law.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt, another Republican running for U.S. Senate, said he would file the legal opinion necessary to outlaw abortion in Missouri, except when a mother’s life is in jeopardy, if the Supreme Court struck Roe v. Wade.
“I’m prepared to immediately issue the opinion that would protect the unborn in Missouri,†he said Tuesday morning.
“I am optimistic that these reports are true, and that the Supreme Court will do the right thing, finally overturning this travesty of a decision,†U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, said in a statement. “I have always stood up for the Right to Life, and will continue to do so.â€
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, said she hoped the Supreme Court “stays true to this potential decision.â€
Posted at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 3.
