Governor Nixon Vetoes SB 749

The following statement can be attributed to Pam Fichter, President of Missouri Right to Life.

During the 2012 Legislative Session, the Missouri Senate and House passed SB 749 in response to the HHS mandate from Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama Administration forcing religious institutions to pay for abortions. SB 749 would have sent a clear message that pro-life Missourians oppose participating in the taking of innocent human lives against our religious beliefs. SB 749 also would have placed in statute the ability for people of faith to bring a lawsuit if they are forced to pay for morally objectionable procedures. Governor Nixon joins the Obama Administration in attacking our religious liberty by supporting the HHS mandate forcing all Missourians to pay for insurance that includes abortion coverage even if doing so is a violation of our religious beliefs.

SB 749 passed the Missouri House and Senate with strong bi-partisan support. Missouri Right to Life urges the legislature to override this veto in September. A veto override of SB 749 will show pro-life Missourians who will stand for our religious liberties.

We are sincerely disappointed that Governor Nixon has chosen to give away our religious liberties to Washington politicians.

Thousands Rally for Religious Freedom at MO State Capitol

Commenting on yesterday’s successful Rally for Religious Freedom at the Missouri State Capitol, Missouri Right to Life President, Pam Fichter, said, “Today was truly an historical and inspirational day.  Thousands of pro-life Missourians came together at the Capitol to take a stand for religious freedom.  Leaders from many Christian faiths pledged to never given in to government coercion that strips us of our right to practice our faith and exercise our own religious conscience.”

Thanks to everyone who turned out! Below are some pictures from the rally. See more at the MRL Facebook Page. We will have video and transcripts of all of the speakers coming soon!

Photo by: Julie Smith/Jefferson City News Tribune

Click the images below to enlarge (all images courtesy MRL Treasurer, Chelsea Zimmerman):

Missouri Right to Life Vice-President Steve Rupp

Bishop John Gaydos of the Diocese of Jefferson City gives the invocation.

Dr. John L. Yeats – Executive Director of the Missouri Baptist Convention

Darrin Rodgers, director of Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, reads a statement from George O. Wood, superintendent of the General Council of Assemblies of God, USA

Maggie Karner – Director of Life and Health Ministries for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Archbishop Robert Carlson — Archdiocese of St. Louis

Crowd pictures via: Jeff City News Tribune and Springfield News Leader

Governor Signs Bill to Fund Unethical Research

Missouri Right to Life
Press Release

For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2011

For Information:
573-635-5110
314-966-3889

Missouri Governor Signs Bill to Fund Human Cloning
And Embryonic Stem Cell Research

The following statement can be attributed to Pam Fichter, President Missouri Right to Life:

Missouri Right to Life is profoundly disappointed in the action of Governor Jay Nixon who today signed into law SB 7, the Missouri Science Innovation and Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA).

MOSIRA sets up a fund, channeled through the state budget, to be administered by the pro-cloning Missouri Technology Corporation, to provide state money and/or tax incentives for new technology businesses, including businesses engaged in human life sciences research.

Missouri Right to Life sought to add language to this legislation that would effectively prevent any MOSIRA funds from being used for unethical research. Sadly, neither the Missouri Legislature nor Governor Nixon valued the concerns of pro-life Missourians who have always opposed public funding for human cloning or embryonic stem cell research.

It’s Not Too Late! Invest in Life!

Be a voice for those who have no voice.

Please consider including the Missouri Right to Life Education Fund in your year-end charitable giving plans. Year-end giving is extremely important to us and will help to support our high impact efforts to advance the cause of life in Missouri. When you invest in Missouri Right to Life, you help to ensure that Missouri’s leading pro-life voice ends the year on strong financial footing and that we are ready to face the challenges and opportunities that await us in 2011.

Your support for the Missouri Right to Life Education Fund is tax-deductible, but please be sure to make your online donation — or postmark your mailed gift — by midnight on December 31st if you wish for this to be a 2010 tax year gift.

This year, will you speak for the unborn by providing your most generous year-end gift? Please use our convenient online giving option to make your year-end gift:

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Missouri Right to Life Education Fund
P O Box 651
Jefferson City, MO 65101

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Video: MRL President Pam Fichter Comments on Abortion and Health Care Reform

Watch this video from St. Louis’ KMOV about abortion and health care reform. It includes statements from Missouri Right to Life president Pam Fichter (they got her name wrong in the report) and Sally Burges from the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, IL, which performs thousands of abortions every year.

Fichter acknowledges that the health care reform making it’s way through the House and the Senate would represent the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. So far, most abortion advocates have been relatively quiet about the whole debate. Some, like MO Senator Claire McCaskill, even insist that abortion is not and should not be a part of health care reform. But Ms. Burges does not agree. She says that “abortion care must be part of comprehensive health care reform.”

Watch video

The only way to ensure that abortions will not be covered under the federal health care reform is if specific language is written into the bill that excludes taxpayer funds from paying for abortions. Find out more at StopTheAbortionMandadte.com

MRL June Newsletter

Inside this month’s Missouri Right to Life newsletter:

- 40 Days for Life
- Legislative wrap
- Red Envelope Campaign
- Let’s play a game . . .
- Welcome Umbert!

To read MRL Newsletter click here

Here is MRL President, Pam Fichter’s message from the newsletter:

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going!

52% of polled Missourians say they are pro-life.

We’ve all heard the adage “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” No one involved in life issues today can deny that the going is definitely tough!

President Obama is proving what we knew during the 2008 election – that he is the most anti-life president to ever hold office. He promotes taxpayer funding of abortion and research on human embryos, supports rescinding conscience rights protection, appoints the most virulently anti-life people to his administration, and is expected to nominate a strong pro-abortion advocate to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Times are definitely tough in Missouri as well. In spite of having a self-identified pro-life majority in both houses of the Missouri legislature, the Senate has failed for the second year in a row to pass the legislation supported by all of the major pro-life groups in Missouri. They have also continued to open the door to potential taxpayer funding of research opposed by most Missourians through various appropriations bills. All of this is explained in greater detail in the Economic Development
article.

Missouri Right to Life is very blessed to have terrific representation in the Capitol during these tough times. Susan Klein, our lobbyist, and Jerry Nieters, our State Legislative Director, have worked tirelessly to be a voice for life in Jefferson City. Often standing alone, MRL has taken positions on many pieces of legislation, testified at often hostile committee hearings, circulated position memos, and worked closely with legislators throughout this last session. In spite of this tough environment, the session produced a House Resolution opposing the federal Freedom of Choice Act, and restored full funding to the Alternatives to Abortion program. On behalf of all of you, I thank Susan and Jerry for their great work.

As if these challenges aren’t tough enough, government documents at both the state and federal level have targeted pro-life groups as potential terrorists and threats to homeland security.

The world is truly turned upside down when those who seek to defend human life peacefully and legally are labeled as threats. The same government founded on the principle of our “unalienable right to life,” now targets those who seek to peacefully restore that right.

We’ve been in tough situations before, and just as the old adage says, that’s when the “tough get going.” The radical anti-life agenda of the Obama administration and the failure of the Missouri Senate to enact additional protections for women and their unborn babies have been a call to action throughout Missouri. People from across the state have called our offices to see how they can get involved in our efforts, and we are chartering many new chapters. Our membership is growing, and donations are increasing in spite of a very tough economy. One donor sent a very nice check with a note that he would have ordinarily sent this check to Notre Dame who has chosen to honor President Obama.

We can be strengthened in our efforts by recent polling by McLaughlin & Associates which shows that a majority of Missourians consider themselves pro-life. On the issue of abortion, 52% of respondents say they are pro-life, while 41% say pro-choice. This is solid evidence of what we’ve known since 1973.

We can also be strengthened by scientific advances which have made embryonic stem cell research unnecessary. By reprogramming ordinary skin cells, scientists have created embryonic-like stem cells without destroying human embryos. These Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) have recently been programmed to treat Lou Gehrig’s Disease and diabetes. Dr. Mehmet Oz shocked Oprah and Michael J. Fox on her March 31 show when he said that the “stem cell debate is dead.” He predicted that the research using iPSCs will be the ones ultimately used to cure Parkinson’s. What he didn’t mention is that adult stem cells continue to be responsible for increasing numbers of successful treatments.

In this tough fight, we are strengthened by many others who join this battle, including religious leaders from many denominations. One striking recent example is Bishop Robert Finn, Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, whose inspiring keynote address at the recent Gospel of Life convention reminds us that “The fight for life is a constant warfare. Those who vied for the leadership of our country last November offered Americans a clear choice in this regard. The President is keeping his promises – one by one. We are getting what we chose. Is the war over? Never. Is the battle over? We must not give up. Remember: we already know the final outcome. The battle now is about our readiness to remain faithful – our readiness to suffer while we peacefully, legally, and prayerfully seek the victory of life.” That’s how the tough get going!

Pro-life Documentary Premieres at CBC High School in St. Louis

Thine Eyes, a first-ever pro-life documentary on the annual Washington DC March for Life, will make a St. Louis premiere Thursday, May 28 at 7 pm at CBC High School, Ross Hall, at 1850 De La Salle Drive (N. Outer 40 Drive) at the intersection of Highways 270 and 64.

The high-definition film was shot on location by a six-camera crew to share the spirit of the January 22nd event, which marks the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision to override state abortion laws and mourns the more than 50 million unborn Americans who have died as a result.

The public is invited to attend the event which is co-sponsored by Missouri Right to Life and Missouri Life Caravan.

“Life is the great civil rights issue of our day,” said Jack Cashill, producer of Thine Eyes: A Witness to the March for Life. “America’s mainstream media consciously suppresses this cause.”

The 36th annual March for Life in Washington DC boasted of record attendance, some 300,000 people, yet the event made headlines virtually nowhere. Painfully few in the major media paid any real attention to the March for Life this year despite the event’s massive size and obvious relevance. The Obama administration’s promise to expand the abortion franchise has energized the pro-life movement nationwide and prompted the record turnout.

“Cashill, together with Michael Wunsch and actress, Jennifer O’Neill, have created a masterful depiction of the prolife cause’s biggest and most consistent event,” says executive producer, Steve Sanborn. “It’s what the world never gets to see – normal everyday Americans in massive numbers who believe the world can do better than abortion.”

“The history of America is a history of expanding the family of those whose worth we take seriously,” said Cashill. “The Obama inauguration offers us your classic ‘teachable moment.’ Thine Eyes will make the lesson obvious and even entertaining.”

Premiere of Thine Eyes: A Witness to the March For Life – $5 at the door
Co-sponsored by Missouri Right to Life and Missouri Life Caravan
Thursday, May 28th – 7 pm
CBC High School, Ross Hall, at 1850 De La Salle Drive (N. Outer 40 Drive) at the intersection of Highways 270 and 64
Supporters are asked to visit www.thineeyes.org for more information.

Contact Information:
816.733.2028 or 314.434.4900

MRL President Weighs in on 2009 Session

The following statement is attributed to Pam Fichter, President of
Missouri Right to Life:

“For the second year in a row, the Missouri General Assembly has failed to pass the primary pro-life bill which was supported by all pro-life groups in the state. For the second year in a row, the Missouri House sent to the Missouri Senate pro-life legislation that would protect women from coerced abortion, allow mothers to view an ultrasound image of their unborn baby, give them information on their child’s development and alternatives to abortion. For the second year in a row, the Missouri Senate failed to take the necessary steps to pass this legislation.

The Senate’s attempt to compromise with their pro-abortion faction resulted in a shell of a bill which turned back the clock on pro-life efforts in Missouri by eliminating the 24-hour reflection period that passed in 2003, survived a governor’s veto, and been upheld by the courts. The senate compromise version also stripped all language from the bill protecting women from coerced abortion. The House was right in rejecting this compromise bill.
In past years, the Missouri General Assembly has been able to pass effective pro-life legislation in spite of greater opposition than in today’s Senate. Pro-lifers across the state are right to be profoundly disappointed. This disappointment is compounded by the various tax credits and appropriations approved by this legislative body which opens the doors to taxpayer funding of unethical research.”

It’s Fair Time in Missouri!

Here’s some information on upcoming fairs in Southwest Missouri that will feature Missouri Right to Life sponsored pro-life booths:

Ozark
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE OZARK EMPIRE FAIR PRO-LIFE BOOTH this July 30th to Aug 9th. Four hour shifts starting at 10:45 AM to 10:00 PM. Entry tickets paid by MO Right to Life, SW Region. This is a great opportunity for adults and youth to share our pro-life values and educate our community. We are also in need of donations to help with expenses to purchase tickets, liability insurance and resource materials.

There will also be pro-life booths at the Christian Co. Fair, July 9-11 in Ozark, MO. and the Billings Community Fair, Sept. 3-5. These events are open in the late afternoon and there are no admission charges. For more details contact Carl Schimek at 417-496-1235.

Barton County
For information on the fair booth in Barton Co., contact Dave Spiering at 417-682-5817.

Cabool
For informatin on the fair booth in Texas Co., contact Alice O’Connor at 417-962-4675.

If you are unable to get through to any of the above numbers, contact the MRL state office at 573-635-5110 or email righttolife@missourilife.org

Senate Passes Bill Endangering Women

A memo from Missouri Right to Life:

Missouri Senate passes version of HB 46 &
434 that will endanger Missouri Women

On the evening of May 13, the Missouri Senate, passed a version of HB 46 & 434 that will, for years to come, endanger Missouri women seeking abortions. The senate substitute repeals sections 188.027 and 188.039 of the current Missouri Statutes. Section 188.039 now contains the current informed consent requirements and the 24-hour reflection period. The senate substitute reenacts 188.027 with some portions of 188.039 included, however there are critical problems with this senate version.

The senate substitute for HB 46 & 434 creates a two-tiered system of enforcement based on how frequently an abortion clinic does abortions. Abortion clinics that perform abortions no more than one-day-a-week (supposedly only the Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, Mo.) are exempt from the new informed consent provisions – offering an ultrasound, fetal development information, abortion alternatives, etc. – for three years (until August 2012), but such one-day-a-week clinics must (supposedly) comply with the old, 2003 women’s right to know law. Clinics that perform abortions more than one-day-a-week (one in Kansas City and two in St. Louis) will be exempt from the 2003 law while (supposedly) complying with the new law.

The abortion industry in Missouri will, no doubt, challenge the new law in court. A temporary injunction will be granted, which in effect will suspend not only the new law until the court case is settled but will also suspend the informed consent provisions and reflection period in the current law. Court battles of this nature have, in the past, taken years to be decided. For example, Missouri’s partial-birth abortion ban was passed in 1999 and not finally upheld until 2007. The result of this will be no informed consent or 24-hr reflection period in Missouri for many years to come. The senate sub also totally removed protection for women who may be coerced into having an abortion.

Call your Representatives and Senators ask them to take up and pass the original HCS HB 46 & 434.

Please pray for those legislators assigned to the conference committee that will decide the final version of HCS HB 46 & 434.

We are in the last 24 hours of the legislative session. The legislators have until 6:00 p.m. Friday May 15th to prevent the passage of the senate version and enact the original HCS HB 46 & 434.

Click here to identify and contact your Representative

Click here to identify and contact your Senator