JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Jay Nixon has been inundated with nearly 5,000 online messages, emails and letters as he mulls what to do with a politically thorny bill injecting Missouri into the national debate over insurance coverage for contraception.
The Republican-led Legislature sent the Democratic governor a bill saying no employer or health plan provider can be compelled to provide coverage for contraception, sterilization or abortion if those items run contrary to their religious or moral convictions. The bill would allow the attorney general to sue government officials or others who infringe on the rights granted in the measure.
Nixon’s office has received more than 4,700 messages — more than any on other bill this year — urging him to sign or veto the legislation. The number of veto pleas appeared roughly double that of signature requests in a stack of 3,100 messages provided to The Associated Press under a records request. But many of the messages, particularly in opposition to the bill, appeared to be form letters.
