Democratic strategist calls Missouri abortion clinic rules ‘an attempt to codify patriarchy’

Democratic strategist Don Calloway said Friday that Missouri’s rules for abortion clinics are an attempt to “codify patriarchy.”

“This is an attempt to codify patriarchy in the worst way, and we see it on the back of the Me Too movement,” Calloway, the CEO of Pine Street Strategies, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”

Calloway was referring to a state rule that says women seeking an abortion must undergo a pelvic exam 72 hours before getting an abortion.

“Whenever you see generational progress in this country, you see an immediate backlash,” Calloway said. “After the Civil War, you see Reconstruction. After the civil rights movement, you see the war on drugs. After the Me Too movement and generational women’s empowerment, you see this immediate, pernicious backlash, and it’s just terrible.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) had said that the state would not renew a Planned Parenthood clinic’s license unless it complied with an ongoing investigation into potential violations of state law. Parson said the clinic is suspected of breaking several state laws and regulations, including the pelvic exam requirement.

But a judge ruled that Missouri’s only abortion clinic will remain open for the time being after the state had refused to renew the clinic’s license unless it received interviews with five of the clinic’s doctors.

If the clinic closes, Missouri would become the first state without an abortion clinic since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

— Julia Manchester