Missouri's Governor Continues His Attempts to Impress the Right

[Elspode]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...ntent=ksc_news


This is a typical ploy...to try and get at abortion by doing senseless things to the law that make them harder to get, without actually making them illegal (but making them illegal is coming, don't you doubt it).

Once the Right has nullified abortion rights, it won't be long before they start making sex out of wedlock illegal, too.

-----------------------------------------------

Special session of General Assembly


Abortion limits are on the table

By TIM HOOVER

The Kansas City Star


JEFFERSON CITY — If Missouri lawmakers give Gov. Matt Blunt what he wants in a special session starting Tuesday, Michelle Turner-Collins says abortion services in Springfield may become non-existent.

“The effect could potentially close our facility, thereby causing more stress and financial burden on women in Missouri,” said Turner-Collins, administrator of the Springfield Healthcare Center, the only abortion provider in southwest Missouri.

In what some consider a risky political move, Blunt has called lawmakers back to the Capitol to again consider legislation that would make it harder to get abortions in Missouri. He’s also asking legislators to fix problems in laws dealing with workers’ compensation, underage drinking parties and the posting of information about public officials on the Internet.

On the issue of abortion, Blunt has directed lawmakers to again consider a proposal that would require physicians to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they perform abortions. Another of Blunt’s proposed abortion restrictions would prohibit anyone from helping a pregnant girl under 18 travel to another state to obtain an abortion without a parent’s consent. Kansas already has a similar law.

Abortion rights supporters have said the first proposal is aimed at making it harder to get abortions at clinics in Springfield and Columbia, which use doctors from Kansas City and St. Louis.

Officials with a clinic in Columbia said the measure would have a minimal effect there, because one doctor already has privileges with a local hospital and another is attempting to obtain them.

The proposed restriction, though, could have a direct effect on Turner-Collins’ clinic. The physician who works at her clinic is from St. Louis and has privileges at four other hospitals in Missouri and Illinois, but not in Springfield.

She said her agency is trying to obtain local privileges for its doctor, but that takes time and requires the physician to serve a rotation at the local hospital. If the proposal becomes law, it could at least temporarily force women to go to Columbia or St. Louis for abortion services. The only abortion provider in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park. Turner-Collins said her clinic provides abortion services for about 1,500 women a year. Many come from southwest Missouri, but also from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas, she said.

Regular session failure

Blunt called the special session after the two proposed restrictions failed during the regular legislative session. House leaders complained that a Senate bill had become unwieldy and overloaded with wide-ranging anti-abortion provisions. Blunt’s support of a slimmed-down anti-abortion bill only fueled an already existing dispute he had with Missouri Right to Life, one of the state’s most powerful anti-abortion groups and a leading opponent of embryonic stem cell research.

The governor supports embryonic stem cell research, and his position has sparked a summer-long feud with Missouri Right to Life, with each publicly attacking the other. Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers say Blunt is attempting to make amends with abortion opponents by calling the special session. But there is also a risk for him, some say.

If abortion rights supporters manage to stall the special legislation long enough, proponents might give up, and then Blunt will have gained nothing for all the taxpayer money spent on the session, a sum that could top $100,000.

There is also the possibility that a proposed ban on embryonic stem cell research will come up during debate, something that has divided Republicans all year.

Blunt’s narrowly worded directive to lawmakers for the special session does not include addressing stem cell research, but opponents of the research may try to talk about it anyway or attach amendments to the abortion legislation — even though such actions might be ruled out of order.

“It’s possible but not likely,” said Sen. Matt Bartle, a Lee’s Summit Republican who has been the chief opponent of embryonic stem cell research in the legislature. “I’m not willing to say I’m not going to raise it.”

Even a successful outcome for Blunt in the special session may not mend fences with Missouri Right to Life.

“The governor continues to support embryonic research,” said Susan Klein, legislative liaison for Missouri Right to Life. “Obviously, we’ll still be at odds. We’ll continue to tell the public the truth.”

Potential override

There is also some talk among Republicans of attempting to override Blunt’s veto of $227,000 for Alzheimer’s disease research at the University of Missouri. Blunt said the money was outside the mission of the Department of Higher Education.

Rep. Bob Johnson, a Lee’s Summit Republican who sponsored legislation in the late 1980s to start the Alzheimer’s research funding, said Blunt’s veto was a mistake.

“I think if the Alzheimer’s issue is raised, it will be overridden,” Johnson said.

Other Republicans discounted that possibility, saying their party likely will stick with Blunt.

Rep. Brian Baker, a Belton Republican, said he had heard complaints about the cut in Alzheimer’s research funding. Several lawmakers, he said, have relatives who have the disease and believe the state ought to work toward a cure.

He expects discussion of that veto and perhaps other funding cuts Blunt made.

“We should discuss these things because we shouldn’t just follow the governor blindly,” Baker said. “…It could come to a vote.”

But the legislature has overridden a governor’s veto — which takes a two-thirds majority vote — only 10 times in state history. Baker said this year’s vetoes haven’t generated that kind of opposition.

“I don’t know that what the governor did would generate 109 votes,” he said. “Besides, we can always come back next year and decide to put the money back in. It’s not as if he cut $500 million from schools.”

The special session could continue through Sept. 14, when the regular veto session starts. Vetoes can only be overridden during the veto session.

The Senate’s costs for the special session, scheduled to begin Tuesday, could be more than $15,000, depending on how many days senators are at the Capitol.

Most House members, meanwhile, won’t show up until Sept. 13. Only a small number of lawmakers will meet in committees and leadership meetings from Tuesday through Friday.

House officials estimated special session costs as high as $80,000, including mileage and expenses for five days and printing and staff costs.

Because most House members are not scheduled to show up the first week, the cost could be significantly smaller than $80,000. But if lawmakers bog down in debate over abortion and other issues for longer than five days, the costs could be greater.