MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - The annual anti-abortion debate in Missouri's legislature got its kickoff Tuesday with about 100 people, including several lawmakers, attending a Missouri Right to Life in the Capitol rotunda.
Prayer and song complemented the memorial, and at the end of it roses were passed out to the legislators.
This year is the 26th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal in the United States.
As in the past few years, a ban on partial-birth abortion is the focus of the anti-abortion efforts.
In 1997, the ban cleared the legislature by an overwhelming majority, but was vetoed by the governor who objected to the absence of any exemption in cases involving the health of the mother.
The governor's veto was sustained in the Senate by a margin of just one vote. Newly elected Sen. Sarah Steelman, R-Rolla, could be the key this time around.
"I will support the partial birth abortion bill," said Steelman, who defeated a Democrat who had voted to sustain the governor's veto.
She is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Ted House, D-St. Charles County. Steelman, who attended the memorial, said she thinks there are enough votes this time to override the government's veto if it happens again.
The governor's spokesman, Chris Sifford, said he didn't want to predict what might happen later in the session. "I can't speculate about that," he said.
The governor would support a ban only if the bill has provisions to protect the mother's health.