ST. LOUIS — Missouri is one of many states in the middle of the national abortion debate.
Early Thursday morning, Missouri's Republican-led Senate passed a bill to ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy.
Senators approved the legislation 24-10 early Thursday with just hours left before a Friday deadline to pass bills. It needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for it on Wednesday.
Parson called on state senators to take action, joining a movement of GOP-dominated state legislatures emboldened by the possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court could overturn its landmark ruling legalizing the procedure. Their vote came only hours after Alabama's governor signed the most stringent abortion ban in the nation on Wednesday, making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases.
One St. Louis native is joining the national debate on abortion after having one of her own.
St. Louis native Brianna Arps has had her sight set on New York City since she can remember.
“I actually wanted to go to college in New York City,” Arps said.
However, she opted to go closer to home and graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in May 2016. During her time at Mizzou, she received a number of awards an honors including a prestigious Chancellor’s Award for her leadership skills and being crowned Homecoming Queen for the school’s Legion of Black Collegiates. Arps was also the student commencement speaker for the journalism school’s graduation ceremony.
“I really reinvented myself in college,” Arps said. “I was known for a lot of things like in the J-school and LBC.”
Just a couple of months after receiving her diploma, Arps took a leap of faith and moved to New York City.
“It was July 4th weekend in 2016,” Arps said. “I’ll never forget it. It’s absolutely the worst weekend to move to the city because of the holiday, but I will never forget it. I didn’t have a job lined up like a lot of peers did, so I was a little discouraged.”
It did not take long for Arps to find work. Her first stop was Us Weekly. She stayed in the city through multiple lay-offs and has held a number of positions in beauty, media and marketing. Through every transition, Arps said she held on to hope that something bigger and better was coming, and she was never let down by that hope.
In early 2017, while between positions, Arps learned she was pregnant.
“I was unemployed, and there was no way I could care for myself and another being and still do all the things that I set out to do in New York City. I would go home. I would feel like a failure in a lot of ways.”
Arps said her mother gave birth to her when she was in her early 20s, so she knew the sacrifice it would take.
“My mom is going on 50 now, and half of her life she dedicated to me,” Arps said. “I’m just now seeing her fulfill her own dreams. I’m just now seeing her go back to school and get the doctorate she always wanted.”
The Planned Parenthood center in Manhattan was the first place Arps went to explore her options. She said she was met with financial, emotional and mental support.
“They loved me, and I loved them right back,” Arps said. “That’s something I’ll forever be grateful for…it just became such a comfortable place for me to go because I was treated with such love and care during one of the most difficult times in my life.”
March 7, 2017, is another date Arps said she will never forget. It’s the day she underwent her abortion procedure.
Arps was about six weeks into her pregnancy went she had the abortion procedure. At that point, she said she physically had no symptoms of being pregnant and wasn’t far enough along to detect a heartbeat during her ultrasound appointment.
While the abortion bill proposed in Missouri impacts women at the eight-week mark, Arps said she doesn’t think the two weeks would have made a difference for her decision.
“I took a pregnancy test off a whim,” Arps said. “I had noticed no changes in mood or any of that. Eight weeks is such a small window compared to carrying a child full term. I still don’t think I would’ve even known.”
Arps was impregnated during consensual intercourse, but she said she feels for the women who would be impacted by the bill who get pregnant during a sexual assault.
“I’m also someone who survived being sexually assaulted for a period of time in my life,” Arps said. “I can’t imagine being told that I can’t speak up for myself.”
A proud St. Louis-native, Arps said she’s always known how “conservative” her home state is, and she is not surprised by the bill proposals. However, she said she challenges lawmakers and other Missourians to reconsider how they view and discuss a woman’s choice to abort her child and the women who have made to choice to do so.
“We’re not monsters,” Arps said. “I don’t want people to think that we’re monsters or irresponsible or lack faith. I’ve had my conversations with my God, and I sleep well knowing that I did what was best for me.”
Arps said she hopes to have children one day, she said, when she’s ready.