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Bill extending statute of limitations for child sex abuse survivors clears Missouri House

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missouriindependent.com – Clara Bates – 2025-02-20 13:54:00

Bill extending statute of limitations for child sex abuse survivors clears Missouri House

by Clara Bates, Missouri Independent
February 20, 2025

The Missouri House on Thursday approved a proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Filed by state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican from Branson, the bill would extend the amount of time survivors have to file civil action against a perpetrator. Survivors would have until age 41 to file civil action, rather than age 31. 

Seitz’s bill was inspired by sexual abuse allegations at Kanakuk Kamps, in the Branson area.

The legislation that contained Seitz’s bill passed out of the House on Thursday 92 to 42, with 24 voting present. The opposition, from Democrats and Republicans alike, was due to parts of the bill unrelated to the childhood sexual abuse piece.

It now heads to the Senate for consideration.

In 2023, the bill didn’t receive a vote in the House until May, when session was nearly over, and never got to a committee hearing in the Senate. Last year, the bill never came to a vote in the House. 

Seitz’s bill hasn’t had a committee hearing this year but was passed out of committee unanimously in the last two years. 

Opposition in previous years has come primarily from insurance companies raising concerns about being exposed to liability. 

The legislation was tacked on as an amendment to another bill filed by state Rep. Matthew Overcast, a Republican from Ava.

“This amendment is not the perfect fix,” Seitz said during debate on the House floor earlier this week. “It’s a start. And it gives victims time and hope…I ask this body to, once again, in a bipartisan manner, do what’s right and help those who were harmed as children.”

Personal injury claims

The underlying bill relates to statutes of limitations for personal injury claims, which are governed by a separate legal framework than childhood sexual abuse claims. 

Overcast’s bill reduces Missouri’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims from five years down to two years, meaning individuals would have less time to file a lawsuit after an injury.

Overcast said it would help the state compete economically and help small businesses protect themselves against frivolous lawsuits.

“It’s good, sound legal policy,” Overcast said Thursday. “It promotes the economic viability of our state, puts us in a place to compete with our neighboring border states who are well below our current five year statute of limitations.”

Missouri’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is higher than all but two states, Maine and North Dakota.

Opponents said the change would stymie access to justice for those who are injured and seeking redress.

“This is designed to protect insurance companies, not you,” said state Rep. David Tyson Smith, a Democrat from Columbia. “If you get injured, you need that time, five years is not overly generous.”

Several lawmakers said they support the amendment to extend the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse survivors but not the underlying bill to reduce the statute of limitations for personal injury.

“The problem I have with this is the amendment is so good,” Smith said. “I may have to vote ‘present’ on this because of the great amendment that’s on this. 

“And I know that, probably, there’s a strategy behind that.”

The bill was heard immediately after the House approved legislation to protect a pesticide maker from charges that it didn’t warn customers that one of its most popular products causes cancer, which state Rep. Raychel Proudie pointed out.

“When someone hurts you, you should certainly be able to seek justice. Justice is something that we should be entitled to,” said Proudie, a Ferguson Democrat. “Reducing that here is kind of breathtaking.”

State Rep. Michael Davis, a Republican from Belton, said the two components of the bill are inconsistent.

“I’m wondering, how can it be both that it’s good to lower the statute of limitations for personal injury,” he said, “but it’s also, on the other side, good to be doubling the statute of limitations for the child offenses, which do not start running until they become an adult?”

Overcast replied that he doesn’t “see them both in the same lens.”

“I’m looking at this through economic vitality for the state perspective,” Overcast said, adding that lowering the statute of limitations for personal injury claims will incentivize people to bring claims earlier.

“We’re trying to pass smart policy in this state that allows businesses to grow without burdening access to justice, and this bill does that,” Overcast said.

When state Democratic state Rep. LaKeySha Bosley asked Seitz whether there were other possible avenues for his bill, he said “this may be the last time this year.”

Seitz urged members to vote for the bill and said once it is in the Senate’s hands, “it will be changed in some way, hopefully making it more palatable for all sides.” 

He added: “Let us not make perfect the enemy of the good. This is the vehicle in which we can give these adult children a chance.”

Child sex abuse survivors

Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, presents his bill to extend the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 13, 2023 (Clara Bates/Missouri Independent).

According to the nonprofit child protection advocacy group Child USA, Missouri is currently one of 18 states with the age cap set at 34 years old or younger — which the group ranks as the worst states in terms of statutes of limitations for child sex abuse survivors.

At Seitz’s bill’s initial hearing in 2023, former Kanakuk Kamps camper Evan Hoffpauir testified about the impact of Missouri’s statute of limitations on him.

For more than a decade, Hoffpauir believed the camp director who sexually abused him at the Branson-area Kanakuk Kamps had acted alone. 

As a child growing up in Branson, he was involved with Kanakuk’s youth ministries, and said he was abused by Kanakuk director Pete Newman from 1999 to 2003. Newman pleaded guilty in 2010 to seven counts of sexual abuse, and the prosecutor said Newman’s victim count might be in the hundreds. 

Newman is currently serving two life sentences plus 30 years in prison. 

Kanakuk leadership maintains that they had no advanced knowledge of his behavior, and Newman was a “master of deception.” 

Initially, Hoffpauir believed them. 

“[Leadership] stated they fired Newman as soon as they were aware of his abusive behaviors, and that he acted alone,”  Hoffpauir said at that hearing. “And I believed this narrative for over a decade.”

But when he came to believe camp leadership was responsible, too, it was too late: But by the time new evidence was uncovered through national media investigations, Hoffpauir was too old to file a civil suit against the camp and its leadership.

“As I sought out legal action in an effort to hold my enablers accountable, I was crushed to find out I was a few years past Missouri’s statute of limitations,” Hoffpauir said.

“The law was telling me there was nothing to be done about it,” he added, “and the clock had run out on me.”

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Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

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Thunderstorms drench areas south of St. Louis

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March 30, 2025

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www.youtube.com – FOX 2 St. Louis – 2025-03-30 21:11:05

SUMMARY: Thunderstorms impacted areas south of St. Louis, causing severe weather events with heavy rainfall, strong winds, and hail. Extreme Weather Specialist Chris Higgins reported from the storm, noting the unique conditions compared to earlier storms in March. Severe storms produced dime to tennis ball-sized hail, particularly in areas like Bunker, Missouri, resulting in damage such as broken car windows. Tornado warnings were also issued in Washington County, Illinois. A seasoned storm photographer observed changes in storm patterns over the years. While a brief lull in severe weather is expected, conditions may intensify again by Wednesday.

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Sunday’s severe weather event was nothing like the March 14 storms. The setup was completely different. The timing was different. Fortunately, the final outcome in our area was different, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have our share of warnings and trouble.

St. Louis News: FOX 2 covers news, weather, and sports in Missouri and Illinois. Read more about this story or see the latest updates on our website https://FOX2Now.com

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St. Louis metro area expecting another round of severe weather Wednesday

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March 30, 2025

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www.youtube.com – KSDK News – 2025-03-30 17:42:08

SUMMARY: The St. Louis metro area is preparing for another round of severe weather on Wednesday, with chilly morning temperatures in the low 40s and a breeze. The day will remain cool, with highs in the low 50s. An enhanced risk of severe weather is expected, with conditions favoring storms, including strong winds, humidity, and potential twisting winds. The severe weather is anticipated to develop in the afternoon and evening, with the possibility of widespread impacts. Residents are advised to prepare for various severe weather conditions and stay updated for more details.

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Sunday wasn’t too bad in the metro area but Garry Frank is already looking at severe weather chances on Wednesday.

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Missouri health department rejects Planned Parenthood plan to start medication abortions

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2 days ago

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March 28, 2025

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missouriindependent.com – Anna Spoerre – 2025-03-28 18:18:00

by Anna Spoerre, Missouri Independent
March 28, 2025

Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics remain unable to offer medication abortions after the state rejected their complication plans this week. 

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which operates clinics in the St. Louis region, Rolla and Springfield, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates clinics in Kansas City and Columbia, received a letter from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on Thursday stating their complication plans did not meet state requirements.

The decision means that almost five months after voters approved a constitutional amendment restoring abortion rights, the most common method to terminate a pregnancy is not available in Missouri.

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This rejection was based on the criteria of an emergency rule published the same day by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office. 

That rule requires the complication plan for any facility prescribing abortion medication to more than 10 women a month must: 

Have an on-call OB-GYN who lives within 25 miles of the clinic available at all times for seven days after a patient takes the medication. This physician would be required to treat any complications that arise as a result of the medication unless the standard of care requires someone else to treat them. Provide for patients who live further than 25 miles from the clinic, the name of the emergency room and a physician “within a reasonable distance of the location where the patient will complete the abortion.”Submit the full names of all physicians involved in the local complication plans.

While three clinics —Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis — have resumed some procedural abortions, Planned Parenthood leadership have said they will not begin prescribing medication abortions without an approved complication plan. 

Leadership with Planned Parenthood Great Rivers is still deciding on next steps, a spokesperson said. 

The Department of Health and Senior Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement in February, department spokeswoman Sami Jo Freeman said complication plans are “important to ensure the safety of patients because medication abortions will likely be completed at home without a physician present.” 

When the clinics submitted their complication plans in February, they did not include the names of any physicians involved. The proposals state that patients could contact the clinic at any time with concerns, including an after-hours line staffed by licensed nurses who can refer calls to an on-call physician. 

“If a potentially urgent complication is suspected based on the patient’s symptoms or the patient is not able to return to the health center in a timely way, the nurse will direct them to the emergency department (ED),” the initial plans submitted by Planned Parenthood read. 

With the patient’s consent, the proposal continued, the ER would be told the patient’s medical history if possible. Planned Parenthood would follow up with the patient the next day.

Across the country, abortion medication is the most common method used to end a pregnancy.

In 2023, nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States took place using medication as opposed to in-clinic procedures, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group.   

In states where abortion is legal, medication that induces a miscarriage is available to patients in their first trimester of pregnancy. Patients typically take two doses of medication, the second of which is often taken at home. In recent years, a growing number of women have been ordering abortion medication from online providers in the United States and abroad, including to states where abortion remains illegal. 

According to the FDA, mifepristone is safe to use if taken as directed. Cramping and bleeding are common side effects of the medication. Those prescribed mifepristone are urged to call their doctor if they experience heavy bleeding, abdominal pain or a fever. The same guidance applies to those who recently underwent procedural abortions, experienced miscarriages or delivered a baby.   

Since the medication was approved for use 28 years ago, only 32 deaths have been reported associated with mifepristone, according to the FDA. 

Earlier this month, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a notice of an intent to serve a cease and desist letter to the Planned Parenthood clinics, doubling down on his demand that Planned Parenthood stop performing a type of abortion that its clinics aren’t actually offering patients.

Several Planned Parenthood clinics remained open even after the procedure was outlawed statewide in June 2022. The clinics primarily provide family planning services, cancer screenings and STI testing and treatment, including to patients on Medicaid. 

Shortly after Missourians in November narrowly approved Amendment 3, granting the constitutional right to an abortion, Planned Parenthood sued the state, arguing dozens of regulations on abortion providers were no longer constitutional. 

In mid-February, a Jackson County judge struck down most of the regulations, allowing Planned Parenthood to resume in-clinic procedural abortions for the first time in years. 

Abortion returns to Columbia, opening access for mid-Missouri for first time since 2018

The first abortion to happen in Missouri since the procedure was outlawed statewide in June 2022 took place in February at a Kansas City clinic. In early March, procedural abortions returned to the clinic in Columbia for the first time since 2018. 

And on Thursday, the clinic in St. Louis quietly performed its first two abortions since 2022. 

The clinic plans to take additional abortion patients who are earlier than 12 weeks gestation over the coming weeks, but the number of days abortion is provided in St. Louis will depend on physicians’ schedules, Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, said Friday.

Staff at the St. Louis clinic did not initially indicate they would bring back procedural abortions this soon. 

“Ahead of the December ruling, our staff had been preparing to start providing medication abortion — including staff training, as well as ordering supplies and medications,” Dunne said in a statement. “Recognizing more recently that we were likely to face additional hurdles from state officials on medication abortion, our medical and patient services teams pivoted to allocating staff, equipment, and other necessary resources in order to begin offering procedural abortion again.” 

Planned Parenthood likely won’t be able to begin offering procedural abortions at its clinics in Rolla or Springfield until additional physicians are hired, Dunne said, adding that Planned Parenthood is “working aggressively” to expand their physician numbers.

There are currently two long-term staff physicians and one contracted physician at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which also oversees the clinic in Fairview Heights. The two long-term physicians are both based in the St. Louis area. 

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Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The post Missouri health department rejects Planned Parenthood plan to start medication abortions appeared first on missouriindependent.com

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