Missouri Pro-Life Group’s New Amdt Stop Funding for Abortion, Human Cloning
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 8, 2009
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) — A Missouri pro-life group is submitting language for a new amendment that would stop the state from using taxpayer dollars to finance abortion and human cloning. The is the Missouri Roundtable For Life’s second attempt to get its constitutional amendment before voters.
The group filed language with Secretary of State Robin Carnahan on Friday to put a citizen initiative on the November 2010 ballot.
The initiative, called the Missouri Taxpayer Protection Amendment, "protects Missourian’s hard-earned tax dollars" from being used for abortions not medically necessary to save the life of the mother, abortion services, human cloning and other controversial human research.
Missouri Roundtable For Life director Todd Jones told LifeNews.com about the latest effort.
“This amendment, which is a modified version of the Taxpayer Protection Amendment we filed late last year and litigated with Secretary of State Robin Carnahan over her highly prejudicial ballot language," he said. "[It] would simply clarify what Missourians already believe to be true: that tax dollars should never be spent for [those practices]."
“During these tough economic times, Missourians have every right to protect their hard-earned tax dollars from being diverted to controversial research instead of legitimate medical research and essential state services," Jones continued.
"The Missouri Taxpayer Protection Amendment has the added bonus of protecting Missouri’s majority passed pro-life laws from any changes in federal law during the current debates on nationalized healthcare," he told LifeNews.com on Tuesday.
The initiative uses the same language from the 2003 Life Sciences Research Trust Fund law that was passed almost unanimously by both chambers of the Missouri legislature and signed by Governor Holden.
Drafted carefully under the guidence of the late Richard Byrd, state representative and House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jones says the 2003 law was clear that tax dollars must not be used for abortion services, cloning or other human experimentation.
In the years since 2003, some changes in Missouri law and public policy have made it so that these protections of Missouri tax dollars no longer apply, he indicated.
Jones says the new amendment is a response to the battle with Carnahan.
“This modified Taxpayer Protection Amendment takes into account everything we have learned as an organization about the state of current law and the claims made by Secretary Carnahan during our numerous court battles with her over her abuse of power in drafting highly prejudicial and inaccurate ballot language,” Jones said.
“If Secretary Carnahan does not draft fair and impartial ballot language as is required by Missouri law this time, then she will have solidified herself as the most abusive and politically-motivated Secretary of State in the history of this state," he said.
"Our great courts and the legislature will be the only options for any citizen group seeking an opportunity to submit fair and impartial ballot language to Missouri voters," he concluded.
Related web sites:
Missouri Roundtable For Life – https://www.moroundtable.org
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