While Republican Andrew Bailey is busy with his own campaign for Missouri Attorney General, he also played a major role in the primary for the office of prosecutor in the state’s second-largest county.

He appeared repeatedly in forums and interviews in Jackson County, sometimes by name, sometimes not, but always with a menacing presence.

After a lively and not always friendly campaign among the Democratic candidates, voters on August 6 chose Melesa Johnson to succeed longtime district attorney Jean Peters Baker. Johnson, who serves as public safety director under Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, faces a Republican opponent in November but has an advantage in a district that leans Democratic.

In the primary, Johnson ran against Assistant District Attorney John Gromowsky and defense attorney Stephanie Burton. The three candidates clashed on most issues, down to the smallest detail. The biggest disagreement was on the issue of abortion.

During the debates, candidates were inevitably asked whether they would prosecute anyone suspected of violating Missouri’s near-total abortion ban.

Johnson and Burton, who touted their support for women’s reproductive freedom, expressed a clear opinion: They would not pursue prosecution.

“Under my government, we will not take on these cases,” Johnson said during a debate on July 26, which was held at Kansas City PBS.

She mentioned that Missouri’s abortion ban enables in particular the Attorney General is responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged violations.

“The Attorney General is welcome to get involved in the prosecution of these cases, as we know him to do,” Johnson said.

Burton issued a similar invitation: “If the Attorney General wants to discuss this with me, I’m ready to fight.”

It doesn’t take much imagination to picture Bailey, who is the favorite to pull on the gloves. The attorney general loves a fight, and nothing gets him more fired up than a dispute over a divisive social issue in one of Missouri’s largest and most progressive districts.

With her unyielding stance, Johnson has virtually guaranteed that if Bailey becomes district attorney, she will insist that all abortion cases in Jackson County be referred directly to his office.

Of the three primary candidates, only Gromowsky said he would consider an abortion case.

“When you say you’re not going to prosecute a case like this, you force the police to refer the case to the attorney general’s office,” he said at the PBS debate. “And I think the outcome is probably going to be different.”

Gromowsky’s answer was seen by many as an evasive maneuver. Although he said the state should not regulate women’s health care decisions, he is considered more ambivalent on the abortion issue than his two opponents.

But regardless of his personal views, I would have liked Gromowsky’s answer if all three candidates had found it.

All prosecutors have discretion in selecting and handling cases. They can try to resolve cases quietly to achieve some redress, or they can press those affected with the full force of the law.

I would expect Bailey’s approach to be the latter.

Remember, this is the official who forces people to serve additional prison sentences even when prosecutors and judges have concluded that they never committed the crimes for which they were imprisoned.

Bailey operates without compassion and without regard for privacy or human dignity. A doctor, patient, friend or family member suspected of violating a Missouri abortion law would have a very difficult time in his clutches.

Passing the Third Amendment, a ballot proposal just approved for a national vote in November, would not necessarily solve the problem.

The amendment would enshrine the right to abortion in Missouri until the fetus is viable. However, we would then have to expect Republican lawmakers to further tighten this right by imposing all sorts of unreasonable regulations on patients and doctors. Legal abortion may be possible again, but legal action is unlikely to disappear entirely.

Fortunately, Jackson County’s proximity to Kansas, where abortion is constitutionally protected, has minimized the risk of women and providers being drawn into the legal system. Since Missouri’s ban took effect in 2022, not a single abortion-related criminal case has come to light.

When that happened, current Jackson County District Attorney Jean Peters Baker contacted local police departments. Baker is a strong advocate of women’s empowerment when it comes to their health care, but she told officers that if police were asked to investigate an abortion case, they should present the results to her.

She explained why in a 2022 Interview with Slate.

“I was elected here,” Baker said. “And I know my community. And I’m going to do my job here instead of letting someone else come into my jurisdiction and do it for me.”

By “someone else” she was referring to then-Attorney General and current U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, who had started the practice of clashing with local prosecutors.

Bailey has taken on this task with perhaps even more passion than Schmitt. He is concerned with his own interests, not the interests of Missouri, its communities or its citizens. All local prosecutors, regardless of their political affiliation, should be wary of ceding their decision-making power to him.