The 2022 Missouri Legislative session kicked off Jan. 5^th and the National Council of Jewish Women-St. Louis has already been a consistent presence in the capitol advocating on behalf of our priority issues. Although we anticipate several difficult fights against harmful bills, let’s start off with the good news —our annual contraception legislation has been filed by Senator Jill Schupp (SB 641) and has garnered bipartisan support.

For those not familiar, NCJWSTL has been championing legislation that would provide an annual supply of an uninterrupted contraception prescription for several years now. And we have a good feeling that this year might finally be its year. 

Why is this legislation so important? Timely and consistent access to affordable birth control is critical for ensuring that women can accurately and consistently use the birth control that meets their needs and one of the most successful, proven methods to increase birth control continuation and avoid unintended pregnancies is increasing the supply of contraceptives provided at one time. Please make sure to contact your legislators and encourage them to support annual contraception access.

We are also excited about several other bills, including, but not limited to, HB 1737, the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA), which would remove the ability to deny employment, housing and/or public accommodation to LGBTQ+ Missourians, SB 730, which would allow for no-excuse absentee voting, SB 915, which would ban the antiquated practice of conversion therapy (any practice or treatment intended to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity) and HB 2000, which would establish a Missouri Holocaust Education Week.

Now for the bad news. There have already been several bills filed attacking reproductive rights, vaccine and mask mandates, education equity, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights and separation of religion and state. The most egregious of this legislation includes:

• HJR 79 – This bill aims to attack our current citizen initiative process by making it more difficult to get a citizen initiative on the ballot and pass that initiative once on the ballot. This will make the process virtually impossible for many citizens’ grassroots efforts. HJR 79 also proposes increasing the threshold for a measure to pass from a majority to 2/3, among the most difficult in the country. This measure is both punitive and entirely unnecessary.

• HB 1474 – This bill aims to ban any discussion in grade school curriculum of discrimination and oppression of people based on race, income, appearance, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation or gender identity. NCJWSTL believes that teaching our nation’s accurate history does not pit one student against another, but rather gives voice to those who have been previously ignored. There is likely to be another unintended consequence if HB 1474 is passed: Banning the teaching of CRT might lead to banning Holocaust education.  

• SB 781 – The so-called “Save Women’s Sports Act” would require schools and higher education institutions in the state to designate “separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex.” The notion that trans children playing on the teams that align with their gender would somehow disadvantage non-trans children in competing, or would adversely affect the trans child, is a false and dangerous assertion. Studies have shown that despite initial fears, athletes that have transitioned to female are no more dominant than those who are born female. As a women’s organization, NCJWSTL also resents the implication that this bill is in any way designed to help women. Its sole aim is to punish trans children.

NCJWSTL will be in Jefferson City testifying against any harmful bill, but we need your support. Keep your eyes open for information in our weekly Five Ways to Advocate email and on our website.

If you would like more information on our legislative efforts, get involved, or sign up to receive our weekly Five Ways to Advocate email, please contact Jen Bernstein, NCJWSTL Advocacy Manager at [email protected].

Amy Hammerman (left) is NCJW’s state policy chair and Hillary Hinz (right) is NCJWSTL vice president of advocacy.