Legal abortion came to an end in Missouri on Friday with the activation of the state's "trigger law," banning the procedure minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its federal constitutionality. Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, signed an opinion Friday morning activating the trigger law. "With this attorney general opinion, my Office has effectively ended abortion in Missouri, becoming the first state in the country to do so following the Court’s ruling," said Schmitt, who is also running for U.S. Senate, in a statement.

"Thanks to decades of conservative leaders, Missouri has become one of the most pro-life states in the nation, and our Administration has always fought for the life of every unborn child," Missouri governor Parson said in a statement. "Today, our efforts have produced what generations of Missourians have worked and prayed for: Today, we have won our fight to protect innocent life."

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said in a statement that "Republicans will not stop with abortion. They will begin stripping away access to birth control and contraception, in vitro fertilization and marriage equality. With Roe overturned, Missouri now requires people to remain pregnant against their will, treating them as little more than fetal incubators with no rights or role in the decision, even in cases of rape and incest.”

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, said that the ruling was "extreme and radical and completely out of touch with what most Americans want." Smith said that Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion, "is saying that according to the Constitution, the concept of women's freedom and autonomy should be frozen in time, back to when women were their husbands' property, with few rights of their own." The decision, she said, "is one that affects everybody ... women, their partners, their families." Medications used to treat natural miscarriages are also at risk of being restricted at the risk of women's health & welfare.

In a concurring opinion to today's Supreme Court ruling that set women back almost 50 years, Justice Clearance Thomas wrote that the court should also "reconsider" rulings on contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage. Experts also warn that the decision destroying Roe may also threaten legal right to interracial marriage.

Meanwhile, the potential for a legal fight over contraception in a post-Roe world may be particularly high. If this comes to fruition, it will set women's rights back to BEFORE 1914.

Currently, Missouri lawmakers want to totally stop their residents from ever having abortions — even if the abortions take place in another state. The first-of-its-kind proposal would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident have an abortion — from the out-of-state physician who performs the procedure to whoever helps transport a person across state lines to a clinic. Going even beyond banning abortions within the state, this is a major escalation in the conservative push to completely restrict access to the procedure.

Some have compared this anti-abortion law to the old Missouri 1840's "Runaway Slave" law... Nevertheless, that is how women are now - in 2022 - being "viewed" by the state of Missouri. The Missouri state government obviously considers women as "less than" beings... Sadly, Missouri is not the only US state to strip away women's rights. It is just the first state to act.