Explanation of Endorsement Consideration
When your incumbent Senator says they voted to defund Planned Parenthood, please keep in mind the following actions and timeline:
- June 2020 – Missouri Supreme Court Rules that “Pro-life Language to defund Planned Parenthood in budget bills to be unconstitutional.”
- January – May 2021 – Missouri House and Senate do not put pro-life language to defund Planned Parenthood in statute.
- January – May 2021 – Missouri House and Senate offer language that would require Missouri to ask the Biden Administration for permission to defund Planned Parenthood. MRL refuses language.
- June 2021 – Governor calls Special Session – Missouri House puts pro-life language in separate FRA bill (HB 2) after Senate had already voted multiple times to not pass pro-life protections.
- June 2021 – (Special Session) – Instead of holding SB 1, FRA bill with no pro-life language, House sends the Senate the FRA bill with the pro-life language and the FRA bill without the pro-life language. Senate takes up FRA bill with no pro-life language and passes it without considering the bill with pro-life language. Special Session ends.
- House and Senate members state that if the pro-life language is not on FRA they would vote for it.
- House and Senate members state that they could not vote to defund Planned Parenthood in FRA because it would put their rural hospitals in jeopardy. Those rural hospitals are still in jeopardy.
- Senate begins Interim Committee to “study Planned Parenthood funding issue”.
- Senate releases information showing that Missouri is indeed writing checks to Planned Parenthood from direction of the MO Supreme Court decision of June 2020. Over 1.3 million dollars.
- January – May 2022 – Missouri Right to Life asks for pro-life language to defund Planned Parenthood be placed in statute as the Missouri Supreme Court mentioned in discussion in June of 2020 as well as Cole County Circuit Judge mentioned as he deliberated Medicaid Expansion in 2020.
- 2022 Legislative Session – Senators voted against putting pro-life language in Statute. House members vote for defunding language but it fails to pass the Senate again.
- 2022 Legislative Session – House passes supplemental budget bill and sends it to the Senate with NO pro-life protective language. Senate adds same pro-life protective language to supplemental budget bill HB 3014 that the MO Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional with the exception that they add a line item of “0” dollars for Planned Parenthood. The House and Senate did the same thing in budget bills HB 3010 and HB 3011. Planned Parenthood has challenged the language again.
- Missouri Right to Life gave credit to legislators for these 2022 budget bill votes. HOWEVER, while we hope and pray that this new approach in the budget makes it through the court, the vote in the 2021 Special Session to NOT defund Planned Parenthood and then see that Missouri paying out to Planned Parenthood over 1.3 million of our tax dollars, this goes against the fundamental position of pro-life citizens across the State of Missouri. We await the court ruling and we will be asking for pro-life protective language to be put in statute in the 2023 Legislative Session.
