Missouri County Set to Spend Federal Pandemic Relief Money on Out-of-State Abortions

Despite warnings from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, some members of the St. Louis County Council want to allocate COVID-19 relief funds for the purpose of reimbursing women for abortions they secure in other states.

“I don’t understand why St. Louis Democrats believe this is even legal,” said Paul Berry, a Republican who is campaigning to represent Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District.

“If Joe Biden thought utilizing COVID funds for out-of-state travel to have abortions was a viable plan, he probably would have said so.”

The allocation was proposed by Councilwoman Lisa Clancy who called for $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to be allocated to nonprofits for the facilitation of transportation and lodging for pregnant women seeking an abortion outside of Missouri.

“There’s nothing in the law that allows us to spend this money because you disagree with the Supreme Court decision,” said St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch (R-District 3) who voted against the resolution.

“Missouri state law prohibits using any kind of tax dollars for the purposes of obtaining an abortion.”

Clancy declined to comment.

“When I spoke against it, I asked whether we’ll cover people who need to travel to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota for cancer treatment and no, it won’t,” Fitch told The Epoch Times.

On June 28, the council approved 4-3 a resolution that condemns the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, which was introduced jointly by Councilwomen Rita Heard Days, Kelli Dunaway and Shalonda Webb.

Neither Days nor Webb responded to requests for comment, while Dunaway declined to comment.

St. Louis County isn’t the only location in the state looking to offer assistance to pregnant women seeking out-of-state abortions.

Kansas City and St. Louis City have also vowed to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

“It’s appalling,” said State