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Pro-Life Legislation

2008 Legislation

2008 Memos Distributed to Legislators

History on HB 2007 during the 2008 Legislative Session

2008 Press Releases

2007 Missouri General Assembly Scorecard

Information on MOHELA:

Commentary on Legislation:

Legislation serves a number of pro-life goals. Perhaps the most important task for the pro-life movement in the present day is to enact legislation which reduces the number of abortions as much as is allowed by the federal courts. When the timing is right, legislation may be enacted to challenge the assumptions underlying adverse federal court decisions. Another task is to enact protections for the elderly, the helplessly disabled, and other vulnerable persons, for whom the death peddlers already urge assisted suicide. Finally, pro-life citizens and legislators must oppose bills pushed by the leaders of the culture of death, such as bills to expand taxpayer subsidies of abortions and assisted suicide.

This Web site offers a look at legislation at the federal and state levels. To put proposed abortion legislation in perspective, you may review an outline of the Constitutional limits imposed by the federal courts upon abortion legislation. You may then examine federal initiatives in the 106th Congress supported by National Right to Life Committee and Missouri Right to Life, including a federal ban on partial birth abortion, a bill to make it illegal to transport minors across state lines to evade parental-notice laws regarding abortion, and a federal prohibition on using prescription medications in assisted suicides. You may refresh your memory of the issues of partial-birth abortion and family planning appropriations in past legislative sessions.

We will also offer periodic commentary on the current status of federal and state legislative proposals and alerts when legislative action is needed.

Legislation saves lives just as surely, if not as dramatically, as direct rescues. Anyone who doubts this should consider just one example: the 1998 Danforth Amendment to the federal Grove City Bill, which prevented the federal government from forcing all hospitals and nursing schools to offer abortions and abortion training as the price for federal loans and educational grants. Thousands of lives have been saved by that one piece of legislation, courageously championed against the odds by then-Senator John Danforth of Missouri.

In connection with abortion, even with a hostile federal judiciary facing us for a long time to come, there is still a long list of pro-life initiatives that can be enacted within the strictures imposed by the federal courts.

Your senators and representatives at the state and at the federal level need to hear from you. Most of them want to know what their constituents think about important issues, even if it is not what they want to hear.

Your attitude toward a legislator is important to your success with him or her. You want to achieve a friendly relationship based upon mutual respect. The most effective approach is a calm discussion of what is reasonable and true, followed by a concise request for specific action. It is not very effective to make threats of electoral defeat, which only irritate legislators, or to frame requests as broad generalities (e.g., "Vote pro-life"), which legislators of any belief are only too eager to say they already do.

Finally, your comments and suggestions to Missouri Right to Life about legislation are welcome. Please address them to  James S. Cole, General Counsel, at jscole@nolstl.org

MRL Government Relations:

  • Legislation Passed During 2007 Session:
    • HCS HB 1055 - Alternatives to Abortion, Keep Planned Parenthood out of Public Schools, Require Abortion Clinics to become Ambulatory Surgical Centers and be Regulated by the State Dept. of Health
    • HB 818, the Missouri Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act includes a provision that assures that women receive good alternatives to aborting their babies when they learn that their baby has Down's Syndrome.  This provision is strongly supported by Missouri Right to Life.  HB 818 also has a provision in it that opens the door for non-physicians to perform abortions in Missouri.  Missouri Right to Life has asked the Governor to call a special session to close this loophole.
  • Future Legislation
    • Monitor Family Planning Appropriations
    • Monitor Life Sciences Research Appropriations
    • Regulate Egg Procurement in Relationship to Life Sciences Research
    • Close Loopholes of Amendment 2
    • Expand Woman’s Right to Know
    • Address Fetal Pain
    • Pharmacist Conscience Clause
    • Health Care Worker’s Conscience Clause
    • Prevent State Subsidizing of Abortions
    • Prevent State Subsidizing of Unethical Life Sciences Research
    • End-of-Life Decisions
    • Oppose ERA Legislation