Missouri text sets care and penalties for vulnerable people

A provider present during a birth alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion must give the child the same level of care as another child at the same gestational age. The rule covers a child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion. The care standard applies to a provider licensed, registered, or certified in Missouri who is present in a professional capacity.

The measure defines crimes involving stalking, online harassment, and sharing or threatening to share intimate digital images, and sets criminal penalties for them. The provisions cover conduct directed at another person, including online conduct and digitally altered intimate images of an identifiable person. The intimate-image offense applies when a person discloses or threatens to disclose an identifiable person's intimate digital depiction with the stated intent or knowledge of likely harm. The stalking provisions require knowing conduct that meets the stated course-of-conduct or technology-based standards; law enforcement investigations are excluded. The stalking provisions take effect July 1, 2027. The text gives no separate effective date for the intimate-image and sadistic online exploitation provisions.

Assault and domestic assault provisions use revised definitions of harm, and the chapter's definition of a child changes to include people under 18. The definitions apply to the listed Missouri assault and domestic assault laws; the child definition applies throughout the referenced criminal law chapter. The revised harm terms are used in specified assault and domestic assault offenses, which retain different levels and penalties. These provisions take effect July 1, 2027.

The pregnancy-associated mortality review board may have up to 22 members and has added duties involving racial inequities, data adequacy, and research access. The board reviews maternal deaths, including deaths during pregnancy or within one year after pregnancy ends. Voluntary reports of maternal deaths by family members and others remain subject to appropriation. Research access must protect identifying information and follow state and federal privacy laws.