Any minor may consent to pregnancy testing and all other medical care related to pregnancy (excluding abortion).

Many clinics do not require parental involvement, call and ask first. Physicians and other health care providers may (are not prohibited from or required to) inform parents. Title X clinics offer affordable and confidential family planning services, regardless of patient age. Title X providers encourage parental involvement in a young person’s health care decisions, but do not require notification or consent from their parents.

Anyone can purchase a pregnancy test at a store.

For information on laws regarding pregnancy testing and prenatal care in Missouri click here.

More information can also be found here.

Any minor may consent to testing and other medical care related  to STIs.

Many clinics do not require parental involvement, call and ask first.

For information on laws surrounding STI testing in Missouri, click here.

Minors must have written parental consent unless the minor is emancipated or a judicial bypass is granted

There is a mandatory 72 hour waiting period in Missouri.

A woman must receive state-directed counseling and information about abortion and then wait 72 hours before the procedure is provided. Counseling must be provided in person and must take place before the waiting period begins.  Thus, two separate trips to the facility are necessary.

Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.

A new law on abortion is being decided on in Missouri right now, the new law is scheduled to go into effect in August 2019.

More information about Missouri abortion laws can be found here.

Rape occurs if a person has sexual intercourse with another person who is incapacitated, incapable of consent, or lacks the capacity to consent, or by the use of forcible compulsion.

This includes the use of a substances administered without a victims knowledge or consent which makes the victim physically or mentally impaired and incapable of consenting to sexual activity.

Minor victims of rape or sexual assault may consent to  a forensic medical examination.The hospital or physician conducting the exam must give written notification  to a parent or guardian that the exam has occurred.

Statutory Rape in Missouri

Youth under age 14 cannot legally consent to sexual activity, thus making any sexual activity involving one or more people less than 14 statutory rape.

Statutory rape also occurs when someone over age 21 has sexual contact with someone less than 17.

For more information on rape and sexual assault laws in Missouri, click here.

A child must be at least 48 hours old before a consent to adoption is valid. Once accepted by the court, the birth parents cannot change their minds and revoke the consent.
If you sign an agreement with the adoptive parents for  visitation or other privileges, think of this as a moral, not  legal, agreement. If adoptive  parents change their minds, it will be difficult if not impossible to enforce the agreement.

Birth Father’s Rights
In Missouri, if the birth father cannot be located or refuses to sign the affidavit establishing the man as the baby’s father, the man can add his name to the Putative Father Registry.  This does not officially establish paternity, but it does establish a man’s claim to be the father of a child. If a man registers before or within 15 days of his child’s birth, he will be notified if there is an adoption proceeding involving the child. The adoption will then need his consent to continue.

Once the birth mother decides to put the child up for adoption, a diligent search will be done to locate the father.  If he is found, he will have an opportunity to contest (object to) the adoption.  If the birth father gets involved in the adoption by objecting to it, the birth mother will have no ability to cancel the surrender/consent or to regain parental rights.

More information about Missouri adoption laws can be found here.

For more information on adoption in Missouri, click here.

The Missouri Safe Haven law allows for anyone to anonymously surrender a baby up to 45 days old. The baby will be kept safe and placed for adoption. If no signs of abuse or maltreatment are present, no attempt to contact the birth parents will be made and no crime will have been committed. The baby must be left with an on-duty employee at any

• hospital,
• fire department,
• emergency medical professional
• law enforcement agency,
• maternity center, or
• pregnancy resource center in Missouri.

To read more about this process, click here.

Have questions about how Safe Haven laws work in Missouri or another state? Contact the National Safe Haven Alliance at 1-888-510-BABY.

For information on laws in bordering states click here.

-A person commits sexual abuse if he subjects another person to sexual contact by the use of forcible compulsion (either physically or threatened)
-Sexual abuse in which the victim is less than 14 carries a higher punishment

(wording transferred directly as it is written in the law)

Incest is defined under Missouri law as a situation in which a person marries, alleges to have married, has intercourse with, or engages in sexual conduct with someone they know to be: an ancestor or descendent, either by blood or by adoption; a sibling, including a half siblings; a stepchild while the originating marriage exists; aunt, uncle, neice, or nephew.

Incest is a felony in Missouri.

From Missouri State Statute 568.020

Missouri law requires that any course instruction on human sexualy and STIs is age appropriate, medically and factually accurate, and stresses that abstinence is the preferred choice of behavior for all unmarried people. Educators must also stress that abstinence is the only way to prevent the “emotional trauma” of adolescent sexual activity, including being at a higher risk of dropping out of high school.

Students are to be taught factually accurate information on STIs, including emphasizing the serious health impact. School districts can teach students medically accurate information around the health benefits and potential consequences of contraceptive use, or can use federally defined standards for “sexual risk avoidance education.”  Missouri law requires that students are taught skills around sexual decision making, information about sexual predators, and the legal definitions and consequences of sexting.

In 2018, definitions of sexual violence, sexual harassment and consent were added to the state statute governing sex education.

Parents must be notified of the content of the sex education curriculum being used in their child’s school, and have the absolute right to opt their child out of sexual health education. Schools must make their curriculum publicly available when requested. No sexual health education may be offered, sponsored, or furnished by a provider of abortion services.

From Missouri State Statute 170.015

Missouri law prohibits the provision of contraceptives by school personnel. If a student seeks referral for such, they are to be directed back to the physician designated by their parent or guardian. The law additionally allows individual school boards to define other rules around provision of contraceptives and informing parents of a student’s desire for contraception.  

If a school does decide to allow a school based health professional to provide contraceptive referrals to students, they may do so long as they receive consent from parents or guardians in advance.

From Missouri State Statute 167.611

Missouri law defines sex trafficking as a crime in which trafficking is used as a means of coercing someone, without their consent, into commercial sex work. Missouri defines commercial sex work as including sex acts, sexual conduct, performance, or production of sexual materials. Sex trafficking includes the recruitment, transportation, advertisement of the trafficking victim. These laws are also applied to anyone who benefits financially from sex trafficking, even if they are not directly involved in the process, and anyone who misuses immigration documentation to facilitate human trafficking.

In Missouri, child sex trafficking laws apply to anyone under 18, with more serious violations for anyone under 12.  

For more specifics on sex trafficking, click here.

From Missouri State Statute 566.200-218

Under Missouri law, if a minor sends sexually explicit photos or videos of another person under 18, they have engaged in the sexual exploitation of a minor. In this way, sexting is a form of child pornography.

Missouri bans the practice of “threatening the nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images” in attempts to gain anything of value or coerce someone into a certain action. This applies specifically to those above 18. This is commonly referred to as a law against “revenge porn.”

From Missouri State Statutes  573.023 and 573.112.