Anti-abortion lobbyists convene

By Michael Sewall
March 14, 2008

St. Peters resident Clarice Daughterty looks at an information packet as her 18-month-old granddaughter Erica Juergensmeyer reaches toward her sister Rose Juergensmeyer on Tuesday in the Capitol Building. The packet contained information about what bills are supported by Missouri Right to Life.

Photo/Esten Hurtle

Affton residents David and Lois Herries listen to Cures Without Cloning treasurer Steve Rupp instruct supporters on how to collect signatures for petitions on Tuesday in the Capitol Building. The petitions Rupp distributed focused on a ballot initiative to close a loophole in an anti-cloning law.

Photo/Esten Hurtle

Winfield resident Mary Ann Henke and Old Monroe resident Linda Carr wait outside the office of Rep. Steve Hodges, D-Bloomfield, Rep. Ed Schieffer, D-Troy and Rep. Sue Schoemehl, D-St. Louis County. Lobbyists stood outside doors of representatives' offices in hopes of talking to them about anti-abortion-rights legislation.

Graphic/Amy Oslica

(Click graphic to enlarge)

Only one week after a reproductive rights lobby day at the Capitol, anti-abortion rights organizers poured into Jefferson City to voice their opinions regarding abortion and stem-cell research on Tuesday.

Missouri Right to Life arranged the event, which brought out hundreds of supporters to rally around a few pieces of legislation that would help their cause.

“Our primary commitment is to legislation that is going to save lives and protect women,” MRL President Pam Fichter said.

The target legislation during the lobby day ranged from bills that would, according to a lobbyist support card, guarantee that women receive “information necessary to make a truly informed choice concerning abortion” to a bill that would specify that pharmacies would be not be liable for refusal to perform, assist, recommend, refer to or participate in any act in connection with abortion.

Fichter said the lobbying day, which is an annual event, has been successful in past years and is a great way to get citizens involved in politics.

“Aside from voting, this is one of the most important events for pro-life people,” she said. “It’s a great public witness to the community.”

The main piece of legislation lobbyists endorsed was a bill that has versions in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly.

The legislation would require a mandatory ultrasound before an abortion, informing a mother that her baby feels pain during an abortion and protection for women from coerced abortions.

While this bill was the focus of the lobby day, it is also one of the most controversial bills dealing with abortion.

Ted Farnen, the chief of staff for Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said the bill is poorly written and is an attempt to bypass the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a woman’s right to choose.

“It’s another example of a bill that tries to make it so hard for a woman to get an abortion which makes it all but illegal,” Farnen said. “There would be a lot of legal problems if it did pass.”

Farnen said Graham believes in a woman’s right to choose.

“So obviously, this puts him at odds with Missouri Right to Life sometimes,” Farnen said.

Rather than support bills that would potentially take measures against abortion, Farnen said Graham has sponsored bills in the past to promote education on these issues and to reduce the number of pregnancies.

Rep. Ed Robb, D-Columbia, said he hasn’t reviewed the entire bill, but he agrees with some of the language.

“Certain parts are very good,” Robb said. “Asking for an ultrasound is reasonable.”

Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, said in a previous Maneater report that she does not agree with the language on coercion in the bill.

“It’s not about strong-arming someone,” Baker said. “It’s about a discussion you have with someone.”

Robb said the purpose of the bill was not to lead women away from an abortion, but to inform women about their options.

Opponents of the bill said it could coerce women to not have an abortion, despite language that, according to proponents, would provide protection for women from being coerced into having an abortion.

Robb said the level at which a woman could be coerced into an abortion depends a lot on the woman’s age, and that the necessary precautions could be taken to help them.

“The intent is to provide the woman with as much info about the procedure as possible,” Robb said. “There is a big difference between young teenagers and older women with what they know about life in general.”

One bill Robb said is unnecessary would remove damage caps for injuries suffered in connection with abortions.

Under Missouri malpractice law, there are damage caps for which physicians would be liable.

Robb said the General Assembly worked hard to get the damage caps so that someone could not sue for unlimited amounts, and that repealing the caps just for abortions wouldn’t be fair.

“As long as abortion is legal I don’t see the point of it,” he said.

Another large part of the lobby day was the workshops held by Cures Without Cloning Treasurer Steve Rupp.

Rupp showed interested lobbyists how to circulate petitions for a ballot initiative that would place language in Amendment 2 of the state constitution, which was voted on in 2006 and allows stem-cell research in Missouri.

Rupp said the language is “simply designed to close the loophole” in Amendment 2, which has seen much debate as to whether it would allow human cloning.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan wrote the ballot language earlier this year, and was soon after rejected by a Cole County judge for unfair wording.

“The language was horrific,” Rupp said. “It was so over the top, so misleading.”

Robb said with new developments in stem-cell research and a nearly universal belief against human cloning, the ballot initiative might not serve a huge purpose.

“That branch of research and science is changing so rapidly that the controversy will be obsolete,” he said. “It’s much ado about nothing.”

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Anti-abortion lobbyists convene

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