There are some things that most everyone agrees should be fireable offenses in the workplace. One of those things is usually not the use of birth control. This is considered a private decision that is made by an individual and has nothing to do with their ability to do their job. Apparently not everyone sees it that way though as the Missouri State House just voted to pass a bill that would allow employers to fire those who use birth control.
This came down as part of a larger bill that was targeted at abortion clinics in the state. The proposed measure was to raise even more restrictions on abortion clinics in the state. It was clearly designed to try to shut down those clinics without directly proposing a law that outright banned abortion. The result is essentially the same either way.
Tucked away in that bill about abortion clinics was the measure which was designed to overturn a St. Louis ordinance that was put in place to ban employers and landlords from discriminating against those who use birth control, had abortions, or got pregnant outside of marriage. It was a reach by the state government to intervene with the laws put in place by a city government.
The Republican Governor of the state was highly upset when St. Louis passed this legislation. He stated that it essentially made St. Louis a sanctuary city for those who had abortions. He felt that this was just the latest attempt by liberal politicians to provide more comfort for those who have abortions.
It took about ten hours of negotiations to get the bill that was eventually passed by the State House. It turns out that those negotiations actually made the bill more hard line than it was to begin with. That is not something that abortion rights activists can be too pleased about.
This is a very restrictive measure against abortion rights and reproductive choice in general. It is something that some other states may follow suit with as well. This kind of thing often happens with anti-abortion legislation. Once one state passes a bill, other states that have a similar way of looking at things will follow suit and start to craft their own versions of the same legislation.
Naturally, there has been quite a bit of uproar from certain groups who are not pleased in the slightest about what has happened. Protests have been staged, and this story is beginning to generate national headlines. It might be embarrassing to the state in some ways if the coverage is spun in a particular way.
There are already Federal laws on the books which are designed to protect people who have had abortions from being discriminated against. That being said, it is not as clear if there are these same protections against those who have used birth control. That part of the law is something that is currently being tested by this.