The US state where women 'could be fired' for using contraception

Women’s bodies are seen as the property of the state. Their chief function has been reduced to childbearing and their autonomy subordinated to the diktats of the male-dominated order.

We are talking of course about The Handmaid’s tale.

But here’s what’s happening in real-life USA.

According to US media, women who use contraception could be fired from work or evicted from their homes if politicians in Missouri pass a new anti-abortion law this week.

The Associated Press reports that Senate Bill 5 (SB5) would "effectively overturn" legislation passed last year that made it illegal for employers and landlords to discriminate against women who have had an abortion, use contraception, or are pregnant outside of wedlock.

Newsweek warns that under the proposed new legislation, employers and landlords would be able to ask women what forms of "reproductive healthcare" they are using. Decisions over whether to employ, fire or offer housing to women could then be based on their answers.

The SB5 bill is the result of a special legislative session called by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, with the aim of overturning previous legislation and tightening abortion restrictions in the state.

NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri have described the SB5 bill as a “disgraceful blow to women and families".

SB5 was passed by the state Senate (the legislature’s upper chamber) last week, after 10 hours of closed-door negotiations.

The House (the lower chamber) also passed the bill, adding additional anti-choice measures, such as annual inspections of abortion clinics. The bill is due for a final Senate vote this week, after which it could head for signing into law by the governor.

But the final implementation of the measures is not yet a certainty.

Some US publications are predicting a stalemate between Missouri’s upper and lower chambers over the governor's tactics and the additional anti-choice amendments.

Reproductive rights advocates have promised to mount a legal challenge to SB5 if the bill ends up being signed into law. Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Laura McQuade, told The Missourian, “if the Missouri legislature passes once again clearly unconstitutional regulations,” Planned Parenthood would pursue all legal avenues to "have that struck down".

And in a symbolic move, members of NARAL have attended legislative hearings on reproductive rights dressed as handmaids.

While the legislation makes its way through Missouri's legislature, to pro-choice activists, the future that this bill presents evidently has a dystopian feel.