Missouri Right to Life issued the following memo this morning to legislators.
Your phone calls are again urgently needed to ask your state senator to reject MOSIRA since effective pro-life protective language was thwarted from going on the bill.
Also call your representatives and ask them to add the effective pro-life language to MOSIRA that was approved in 1993 on a separate fund and promoted by MRL.
Senators’ e-mails and telephone numbers may be found at:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/11info/senalpha.htm
Representatives’ e-mails and telephone numbers may be found at:
http://www.house.mo.gov/member.aspx
To determine who your legislators are, visit:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx
MEMORANDUM
TO: Members of the Missouri House and Senate
FROM: Pam Fichter, President
Steve Rupp, Vice-President
Gerard Nieters, Legislative Director
DATE: September 14, 2011
RE: Pro-Life Amendment and Final Vote for MOSIRA
Tuesday night the Missouri Senate took up and voted first round approval on the legislation known as MOSIRA without human life protective language. Senator Scott Rupp (St. Charles) introduced the language supported by Missouri Right to Life which would provide clear parameters on restricting use of any public funds generated by this legislation from being used for unethical research. That language is as follows:
Public funds shall not be expended, paid, or granted to or on behalf of an existing or proposed research project that involves abortion services, human cloning, or prohibited human research as defined in section 196.1127.
Sadly this amendment was amended, before voting, with another amendment introduced by Senator Bob Dixon (Springfield) which would eliminate these specific restrictions and instead would merely require that the Missouri Technology Corporation report and post on the internet, ten days ahead of time, the recipients of the public funding of this legislation.
Such reporting requirements would provide no restrictions on unethical research with public funds and should be soundly rejected by any senator or representative who claims to be pro-life.
To those who question the constitutionality of 196.1127, we refer you to the January 2009 decision of Judge Callahan who stated that the Missouri legislature had the authority to make restrictions on funding. Ironically some legislators who now question the constitutionality of restrictive language supported restrictive language previous to the Callahan decision. Which is it? It would seem that the opinion on constitutionality depends on whether or not the pro-cloning interests are best served.
What happened Tuesday night in the Missouri Senate was a carefully choreographed maneuver engineered by the pro-cloning lobbyists and those who do their bidding. The legislators and organizations involved in the back-room deals that resulted in first round approval for open-ended funding of human life science research have assisted in funding the destruction of innocent human life. Pro-life Missourians feel betrayed by these actions.
The Senators’ actions beg the following questions:
1. Why did this anti-life measure pass first round approval from a self-professed pro-life majority Senate?
2. Why was the vote on Senator Dixon’s amendment a voice vote? If it provided pro-life protections, wouldn’t they want credit for their vote?
MRL urges all Senators and Representatives to stand with Missouri Right to Life and others in opposition to MOSIRA without true pro-life protections.