Lawmakers renew fight to stand against abortion
JEFFERSON CITY—Pro-life lawmaking in the Missouri General Assembly from 2005-2008 has advanced to where lobbyists are reaching back to grab one of their biggest building blocks for a glittering new project.
The 2004 24-hour wait law for women seeking abortions, which has been upheld as constitutional in the courts, is the foundation for House Bill 1831, sponsored by Rep. Robert Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, which is designed to strengthen this reflection period with helpful information about unborn babies and proper warnings about medical risks, fetal pain and coercion.
For the deliberative, disciplined coalition of pro-life lobbyists that has come together as a unit in the last three years, the Onder bill represents perhaps their greatest achievement. It builds on three United States Supreme Court precedents, two of which involve Missouri laws—the state’s original parental consent law dating back to 1983, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services in 1989 that let states (triggered by a Missouri case) make laws in an area that had been thought to be previously forbidden under Roe v. Wade in 1973, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 which upheld the 24-hour wait law.
“Missouri continues to be a shining star, I believe, to the rest of the Continued from page 1 and I don’t see any reason for us to discontinue doing that,” said Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC),
Under Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, several laws have been passed since 2005 that have strengthened parental consent, regulated abortion clinics, created a tax credit program for donations to pregnancy resource centers, increased funding for alternatives to abortion, and stopped the flow of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood. With both chambers of the Capitol firmly in Republican hands, the state has been all for human life. Last year, for example, Missouri became the first state to ban Planned Parenthood from teaching sex education classes in public schools, and in 2005 an abortion clinic in Springfield shut down after another pro-life law was passed.
“We are in a good position where we have leadership of the House, leadership of the Senate, and leadership in the Governor’s Office all pulling together,” Messer said. “That is a rather unusual scenario.
“Senator Delbert Scott (R-Lowry City) has been dynamite in rallying all the pro-life voices in the Capitol Building around a table to get everything settled amongst themselves and to present a united front on legislation. That’s been very, very helpful. Seeing it all come together these last four years has been very rewarding for those of us who have been walking these halls.”
Central to HB 1831 are ideas such as sonogram availability, right to request pain relief for the baby, detailed medical evidence about the baby’s development in the womb, instruction that coercion of any type is illegal, and information about organizations that can help a mother carry her baby to term. In his State of the State address Jan. 15, Blunt said that expectant mothers must have more information to make fully-informed decisions, “including the right to view an ultrasound of their child.” Messer said “right to view” was an appropriate phrase—not right to choose, or pro-choice.
“They’ve always made a choice based on misinformation, deception and lies,” he said. “We are saying, ‘That’s got to come to an end. A woman has a right to know the truth before she makes a decision.’”
The Governor’s Task Force on the Impact of Abortion on Women, which is drafting a preliminary report for release in mid-February, has been studying the area of coercion. Messer is a committee member who notes that while the Onder bill and the task force are two separate entities, the part of the bill that would impose criminal penalties for coercing a woman to have an abortion against her will is needed due to the subtlety of this injustice.
“It can come from so many different directions in a woman’s life,” he said. “With the overwhelming nature of being pregnant, with a troubled pregnancy, it’s easy for a woman to be in a position of being coerced. How easy it is for somebody with ill will to push her, even with a gentle push, and be the influence that causes her to have that abortion.”
Coercion also can come from the abortion clinic’s employees, he said.
“They know the woman is emotionally charged and they push her hot buttons to coerce her to make a decision,” he said.
Missouri’s latest round of constitutionally sound abortion legislation is being debated inside the State Capitol in the wake of a new Guttmacher Institute study released in mid-January that showed the rate of abortions at its lowest since 1974. The rate fell to 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 for a total of 1.2 million in 2005.
It is hoped that two of the three remaining Missouri abortion clinics run by Planned Parenthood, in Columbia and Kansas City, will close if U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith in Kansas City cannot find a legal reason to sustain his preliminary injunction against one section of a 2007 Missouri law regarding ambulatory surgical center clinic regulations being enforced. This portion of the law was suspended Sept. 24 with the goal of getting the abortion providers and the state to negotiate on some provisions of the law, including whether some deviations of the state’s rules can be granted. The next stage in the case will begin March 19, according to Alliance Defense Fund Attorney Dale Schowengerdt, who remains confident that the judge already has found, and ultimately will rule, the law to be constitutional.
Among the Missouri state regulations up for negotiation in the court case is a requirement that an ambulatory surgical center have halls leading to operating and recovery rooms at least eight feet wide and halls at least five feet wide in other areas of the facility. The clinics must also meet regulations for emergency equipment, infection control and medical staffing.
Evidence of how Missouri’s pro-life community is nationally known for generating diplomatically creative and constitutionally adhering abortion laws that have a bellwether effect on other pro-life states is a Jan. 22 editorial by the left-leaning USA Today, which complained about Missouri’s abortion clinics being forced to meet “rigorous rules.” The language that now rests in Judge Smith’s courtroom was labeled “insidious” and “easy to see through” by the newspaper’s editorial board writers.
On May 1, 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2005 law that strengthens Missouri’s parental consent law by adding reasonable provisions and safety standards. It provides more barriers to taking a minor out of state for an abortion to evade notifying parents. It also stops individuals from facilitating a minor’s access to out-of-state abortion clinics without a parent’s knowledge or consent.
As a result, this court-validated law has been in effect for nine months. It enables parents to sue those who help their minor daughter obtain an abortion illegally. Violators of the law are subject to a civil penalty.
The 2004 24-hour wait law, which came into being after lawmakers overrode a Democratic governor’s veto, at the time made Missouri the 19th state with such a law. There are now 24 states with similar “waiting period” laws.
Meanwhile, January brought a couple of other court decisions on abortion matters.
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 22 that inmates have a right to obtain state taxpayer funds to secure transportation when traveling back and forth to clinics for abortions. The governor noted that state law runs contrary to the court’s ruling, forbidding state tax money to go toward abortions.
On Jan. 23, Senior U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright declared the state’s statute that outlines the approval process for specialty license plates unconstitutional. The judge thus acted to defend, protect and ensure the right of a citizen to display “Choose Life” on his or her car. Wright ruled that the “Choose Life” license plate is covered under America’s free speech rights, which are spelled out in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“I am hopeful and prayerful that we can further protect life by enhancing our laws to reflect our profound respect for the inherent dignity of each and every life,” said Blunt, a Missouri Baptist, in a recent news release.