The Missouri General Assembly passed legislation last week that will prevent the spread of telemedicine abortions in Missouri. HB 400, sponsored by Representative Jeanie Riddle (R-Mokane), passed the House by a vote of 115-39 and the Senate by a vote of 23-7. This bill will prevent Planned Parenthood and others from setting up clinics in [...]
The last week of the session began with some good news when Governor Jay Nixon vetoed SB 350, a bill passed by the general assembly that would have repealed an existing tax credit that assists the low-income elderly and disabled. The MCC opposed SB 350 and urged the governor to veto it. The tax credit [...]
Sometimes a small change can make a big difference. That’s the hope behind a juvenile bill that passed the general assembly in the final days of the session. SB 36 would extend the age to 17 ½ years old that a juvenile could remain under the jurisdiction of the Division of Youth Services (DYS). Sponsored [...]
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University announced last week that they have produced embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos that are genetically identical to an 8-month-old child who needs treatment. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement that said human cloning was immoral, even if for therapeutic purposes. “Whether used for one purpose or [...]
The Missouri General Assembly last week passed legislation (SB 118) that will allow veterans in Missouri who commit certain low level crimes to participate in a special court tailored to their needs. Sponsored by Senator Will Kraus (R-Lee’s Summit), this bill authorizes circuit courts, or a combination of circuit courts, to establish veteran’s treatment courts [...]
Without a doubt the biggest disappointment of the legislative session was the failure of the general assembly to reform Medicaid and offer health coverage to an estimated 260,000 uninsured Missourians. Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) spent a large portion of this year’s session working with other legislators to develop consensus on a Medicaid reform bill. [...]
Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted Monday, May 13 of three counts of first-degree murder for the death of three babies that prosecutors said were delivered alive and subsequently killed. The jury also found Gosnell not guilty of third-degree murder but guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 41-year-old woman who died [...]
Last week Minnesota became the 12th state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, called Minnesota’s action,which came just after Mother’s Day, “the height of irony.” Archbishop Cordileone denounced the decision stating that, “Instead of strengthening, the [...]
By a vote of 23-7, the Missouri Senate approved a house bill this week that would effectively ban telemedicine abortions being performed in Missouri. HB 400, sponsored by Representative Jeanie Riddle (R-Mokane), requires any physician ordering an abortion to be physically present when the patient is given medication to terminate a pregnancy. This requirement would [...]