CLC urges Blunt to call
pro-life special session
By Brian Koonce
Staff Writer
JEFFERSON CITY – The Christian Life Commission (CLC) of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) is drafting a letter to Gov. Matt Blunt urging him to call a special session of the General Assembly to deal with pro-life legislation. Letters are also being sent to all members of the General Assembly asking them to support the call for a special session.
The CLC voted unanimously to send the letter to be written by CLC Chairman Phil Gloyer, a layman at Forest Park Baptist Church, Joplin.
House Bill 1831, which died on the Senate floor, would have strengthened Missouri’s informed consent law and made it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. The bill cleared the House 113-33 in April but stalled in the Senate as time ran out May 16 on this year’s Legislature. Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the CLC, called it “our biggest disappointment of the year.”
The bill also would have required abortion clinics to provide women with the opportunity to view an active ultrasound of the unborn child and to hear its heartbeat, if it is audible. Planned Parenthood said it already has ultrasound equipment in its clinics, but Messer said those ultrasounds are used to look for the position of baby in order to kill him or her more efficiently.
“This letter needs to let them know that this [special session] needs to happen and it’s coming from us,” said State Rep. Brian Baker, (R-Belton) and a CLC commissioner. “The MBC and the CLC both have the kind of reputation that is going to give this letter a lot of traction.”
The Pathway editor, Don Hinkle, is among the voices who have publicly urged the governor to call a special session.
“Blunt has said he would call a special session if there is consensus. Call him. E-mail him. Call your local representative and senator, or e-mail them. Urge them to call a special session and pass legislation that will save the lives of innocent babies. Let‘s pray God will send another ‘perfect storm’ for Missouri’s miserable abortion industry,” Hinkle wrote in a recent Pathway column.
