2016 Legislative Session Comes to a Close: Bill to Prevent the Sale of Aborted Babies Fails to Pass the Senate

While the House passed multiple pro-life bills, the Senate chose not to pass what the House sent over to them.

HB 2069, a substantive bill ensuring that babies’ bodies and body parts from abortion are not being sold for profit was never taken up for discussion. HB 2069 passed the House with a bi-partisan veto proof majority of a 120 votes. There is no reason for the Senate not to have sent HB 2069 to the Governor.

We are grateful for the work of the House and Senate Appropriation committees for funding positive pro-life programs passed in previous years (see below). These programs are changing hearts and minds.

But, if the legislators want to stop the killing of babies in abortion clinics, they MUST also pass legislation regulating abortion. The laws we are relying on right now in all the attacks from Planned Parenthood and the courts are because legislators stood up and passed laws regulating the abortion industry.

Why, with a pro-life super-majority, has the Missouri senate not passed important pro-life legislation? Missouri Right to Life has long believed that the abortion industry and the research industry are intrinsically connected. Missouri Right to Life has also made it clear that there should be a distinction between ethical and unethical research when working on public policies and funding.

While pro-lifers support passage of funding for good pro-life programs, defunding $380,000 from Planned Parenthood from our state budget and continuing further investigations of Planned Parenthood, we stand unified in the belief that significant pro-life legislation regulating the abortion industry and prohibiting the sale of baby body parts must be passed.

Until we can stop the killing of these innocent babies at the earliest stages of development from abortion or research, we must pass substantive legislation regulating these industries. Missouri Right to Life looks forward to working with the House and the Senate to pass substantive pro-life legislation in the years to come.

Budget Bills With Pro-Life Provisions:

• Alternative to Abortion Funding
• Maintained pro-life protective language on Dept. of Economic Development bill to prevent public mon­ies from being used for research on aborted babies, embryos, and human clon­ing.
• For the purpose of provid­ing expansion of courier services for delivery of cord blood to the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank at SSM Cardi­nal Glennon Hospital.
• Show-Me Healthy Babies Program Funding.
• Family planning dollars in the state budget ($380,000) will now be funded by the state and not the federal government. These monies can be used for family plan­ning provided that none of the funds appropriated may be expended to directly or indirectly subsidize abortion services or procedures or administrative functions and none of the funds appropri­ated may be paid or granted to an organization that pro­vides abortion services.

Better Health Care for Women that does not in­clude abortion!