State Sponsored Manipulation

Last November, the people of Missouri made their voices heard. With the passage of Amendment 3, voters restored abortion rights and reclaimed a fundamental freedom that Republican lawmakers had stripped away. It was a powerful moment of democratic clarity: Missourians demanded autonomy over their own bodies and decisions.

But instead of respecting the will of the people, Missouri Republicans are working around it.

They’re not backing down—they’re doubling down. In the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers are advancing bills designed to chip away at reproductive rights under the radar. One of the most alarming of these efforts is House Bill 1579, introduced by Representative Phil Amato.

At first glance, HB 1579 is framed as a “voluntary support system” for pregnant women. But it’s better understood as an attempt to reassert control—politically, ideologically, and psychologically—through state-sponsored data collection.

The bill creates a state-run database of pregnant women who “opt in” to receive services such as adoption matching. Its earlier version, which would have allowed the state to identify and track pregnant women without their consent, was pulled after widespread public outrage. But the repackaged version still raises serious concerns.

While there is no explicit connection between HB 1579 and Missouri’s network of “Pregnancy Resource Centers” (PRCs), the overlap in ideology and impact is impossible to ignore. Many PRCs present themselves as medical clinics despite offering no licensed care. They are known for pressuring women toward childbirth and adoption while offering little in the way of actual healthcare. They are often religiously affiliated, unregulated, and funded in part through generous state tax credits.

These centers have a well-documented history of misleading women, offering incomplete or false medical information, and discouraging abortion even when it’s a legal and viable option. They’re designed to persuade—not to inform. And when women are at their most vulnerable, PRCs wield enormous influence.

The concern is this: a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy might walk into one of these PRCs thinking she’s getting real healthcare. She will likely be steered toward adoption, told that it’s her best or only option, and then encouraged to share her personal information with the state under the pretense of connecting with adoptive parents. That information could then be entered into the database created by HB 1579.

Is that coercion? Not in the strict legal sense. But is it manipulation? Absolutely.

Even though there’s no formal link between PRCs and the bill, the same Republican lawmakers enthusiastically support both. And both serve the same goal: limiting women’s reproductive freedom by nudging them into outcomes they may not have freely chosen.

Adding insult to injury, Missouri taxpayers help subsidize this system. Donors to PRCs receive up to a 70% state tax credit, meaning public dollars are effectively underwriting a network of ideologically driven institutions that operate without medical oversight and with minimal transparency.

So what we have is this: A bill that builds a database of pregnant women. A network of PRCs that funnel vulnerable women into adoption-centered counseling. A political movement that refuses to accept the results of a democratic vote to restore abortion rights. And millions in taxpayer funding propping it all up.

This isn’t support. It’s surveillance. It’s influence masquerading as care. And it’s a betrayal of the people of Missouri who voted for reproductive freedom.

HB 1579 doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s part of a broader strategy to undermine the rights Missourians recently reclaimed. It offers comfort with one hand while the other quietly feeds personal information into a system designed to shape—and limit—personal decisions.

It’s not just wrong. It’s undemocratic.

Our legislators should honor the will of the voters, not look for clever ways to dismantle it. HB 1579 should be withdrawn. Missourians should demand that their government stop using public funds and legislative sleight-of-hand to manipulate vulnerable individuals in crisis.

The people have already spoken. It’s time the politicians started listening.