Pro-life camp celebrates major victory
JEFFERSON CITY—An alliance of pro-life lobbyists celebrated a major victory May 18 when House Bill 1055 was passed on a 24-9 vote in the Missouri Senate and sent to the desk of anti-abortion Gov. Matt Blunt.
Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, got the bill through the Senate by means of a rare parliamentary procedure less than three hours before this year’s session ended. He noted that Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission (CLC) of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), was right in the thick of the coalition effort, making sure that Baptists were working alongside other pro-life titans to defeat the power of darkness.
“The rewarding part, even after all the work, is that this bill is going to save the lives of babies,” Scott said. “This, I think, is one of the strongest bills that we’ve passed in recent years.”
The Associated Press quoted Planned Parenthood saying that the added regulations for abortion providers contained in House Bill 1055 could result in only one abortion clinic in Missouri staying open. Kansas City and Columbia would be shut down; only St. Louis would remain. The Planned Parenthood strategy to keep those clinics going, based on the organization’s track record, would appear to be to tie up HB 1055 in the court system for as long as possible. That could take years.
“I look forward to signing this important legislation that furthers the cause of life in our state,” said Blunt in a written statement May 18.
Scott observed that while Planned Parenthood is clearly seeking to break down the work of the pro-life coalition in court, the language in HB 1055, sponsored by Rep. Therese Sander, R-Moberly, has been built through 1½ years of cooperation. Lawyers within the coalition are confident that judges will not strike down their measure in the months or years to come.
The bill establishes the Missouri Alternatives to Abortion Services Program and the Missouri Alternatives to Abortion Public Awareness Program. It includes provisions that would prevent Planned Parenthood from teaching explicit sex education classes in public schools. It also includes ambulatory surgical center language that would require inspections and regulations for all Missouri abortion clinics.
Pro-life lawmakers and lobbyists have been working on the bill since 2005, when Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O’Fallon, and Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St, Charles, began to articulate its ideas. Davis was on the House floor May 18 with time running out when she heard about its passage.
“It’s pretty remarkable when things go right around here,” she said with a laugh.
Scott used the maneuver known as “calling for the previous question,” or “PQ”, to get the bill to the governor. Republicans view the “PQ” and the filibuster as the North Pole and South Pole on earth. The goal of using either tool, Scott said, is to keep senators moving toward making laws that the people want. It was determined that Democrats, a minority voice, would filibuster HB 1055 on May 18 right up until the 6 p.m. close of the session. That would be like trying to live on the South Pole, which is unacceptable, and Scott said the “PQ” exists so the majority can nudge the Senate toward a more reasonable destination—a little more toward the north, so to speak.
Scott emphasized that of the 19 senators who voted to override the filibuster under the “PQ” rule, none of those were pro-life Democrats.
“Ultimately in the Legislature, you come down to issues that cannot be solved anywhere else,” said Scott, who is the longest-tenured elected official in the Capitol with five years in the Senate and 18 years in the House of Representatives for a total of 23 years. “This is where controversy ends, and the pro-life bills are some of those that are the most controversial.”