By Laura Bassett. Posted: 12/17/2014 1:58 pm EST. Updated: 12/18/2014 1:59 pm EST.

In explaining the bill to Mother Jones, Brattin channeled Todd Akin, the former Republican congressman from Missouri who, during a failed 2012 Senate bid, said that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" have mechanisms in their bodies that prevent them from getting pregnant.Brattin introduced the bill on December 3 for the next legislative session, but it has not moved yet in the Missouri House. Mother Jones notes that some individual medical providers in Missouri have a policy requiring the partner's consent. Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization, told The Huffington Post there are legal reasons some providers might require spousal consent."It could be that the physician is afraid of being sued," she said.If Brattin's bill gains traction in the state legislature and becomes law, it will likely be blocked by the courts. The Supreme Court decided in Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992 that requiring a woman to notify her spouse before having an abortion is unconstitutional.