# Missouri suggests women guilty of ectopic pregnancy must die

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missouri-suggests-women-guilty-of-ectopic-pregnancy-must-die/961457>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 22, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missouri-suggests-women-guilty-of-ectopic-pregnancy-must-die/961457 "2022-03-22T01:36:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 60

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**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missouri-suggests-women-guilty-of-ectopic-pregnancy-must-die/961457/60 "2022-03-22T18:46:05Z")

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> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> You can’t have an illegal abortion that terminates an ectopic pregnancy by your definition of the termination of an ectopic pregnancy not being an abortion.

It is an interesting question, actually. Missouri defines “abortion” as “[t]he act of using or prescribing any instrument, device, medicine, drug, or any other means or substance with the intent to destroy the life of an embryo or fetus in his or her mother’s womb.” Mo. Rev. Stat. 188.015.

There does not appear to be a definition of “womb,” but [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) tells me that a womb is “the uterus of the human female and certain higher mammals.”

So, I guess one would argue, that performing an “abortion” on an ectopic pregnancy isn’t an abortion under state law – because the embryo/fetus is not being destroyed in the womb. (Right? That’s the whole point, it’s implanted outside the uterus).

(And, the statute permits abortions for “medical emergencies” which would seem to include – at least eventually – an ectopic pregnancy).

But that doesn’t really help answer my question – in fact, the provision makes less sense to me.

> [@agzem](#):
>
> You can’t do those things by mail order.

The statute isn’t limited to mail order. Or, for that matter, to abortion drugs.

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