Missouri Family E-News

January 5, 2016

                    
MO FPC
Does Not Endorse Candidates       

Last week the Missouri Family Policy Council announced that it was awarding its annual Missouri Family Champion Award for 2015 to Senator Kurt Schaefer of Columbia.

Senator Schaefer was recognized for his skillful leadership of the Senate Sanctity of Life Committee, an interim committee appointed to investigate the business practices of Planned Parenthood.

The committee was established following the release on the national level of undercover videos by a group called The Center for Medical Progress.  Those videos revealed Planned Parenthood employees engaged in the trafficking of the body parts of aborted children. 

In his capacity as chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Schaefer exposed an ongoing record of collaboration between the University of Missouri and the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Columbia.

A former state lawmaker has asked whether the honor accorded to Senator Schaefer should be construed as an endorsement of his announced campaign for higher office.

The answer to that is a definitive no.  The Missouri Family Policy Council is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.  As such, we are prohibited under federal law from engaging in any form of partisan political activity.

The Missouri Family Policy Council has never endorsed any political candidate, nor participated in any campaign activity. 

Regular readers of the Jeff City Update know that we do not report on the candidacies of individuals for public office, nor report on statements they make as part of their campaigns.  In fact, we rarely even make reference to the political affiliation of individuals in public office in the stories we write.

The only exception has been when we have done profiles on Presidential candidates and U.S. Senate candidates in a general election year at the time of a November election.

Our stories in the Jeff City Update have been confined to public policy developments on the state, federal, and local level, whether they be in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government. 

We have also at times reported on cultural developments of concern to the Christian community.

Despite the non-profit status of the Missouri Family Policy Council, I have the legal and constitutional privilege to endorse candidates as an individual.

However, I have chosen not to make any such endorsements of candidates for state office, so that any such activity would not be attributed to the organization in any way. 

I have also chosen not to attend political functions hosted by state candidates, even if I was provided with a complimentary invitation.

We have worked very hard to maintain the non-partisan nature of the Missouri Family Policy Council's activities.  We work with state legislators on a bipartisan basis, and want to do nothing to jeopardize that.

So, we repeat, the Missouri Family Policy Council is not endorsing Senator Kurt Schaefer in any political aspirations he may have.  Nor are we expressing any opposition or disfavor to any opponents he may face in any such elections.

Senator Schaefer was recognized because he demonstrated extraordinary pro-life leadership over the past year.  Nothing more, nothing less.
  

Listen to the Broadcast Version of the Jeff City Update online at 
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Federal Judge Keeps
Planned Parenthood
Abortion Clinic Open

Yet another lawless federal judge has given Planned Parenthood permission to ignore state health and safety regulations in the operation of their Columbia abortion clinic.  U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughery has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting state officials from revoking the abortion clinic license of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

Judge Laughery ruled that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) had somehow violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution in their plans to revoke Planned Parenthood's operating license.  Laughery claimed that Department officials had treated Planned Parenthood "more harshly than similarly situated situations."

The Department announced it was revoking Planned Parenthood's Columbia clinic license late last year when it was no longer in compliance with state statutes and regulations governing ambulatory surgical centers.  Those provisions require that physicians performing or inducing abortions must have staff privileges at a hospital within fifteen minutes travel time from the facility.

The abortionist at the Columbia facility, Colleen McNicholas, lost staffing privileges she had been granted by University Hospital, operated by the University of Missouri Health Care system.  The University's action followed investigations by state legislative committees revealing collaboration between University officials and Planned Parenthood managers.  State law prohibits state institutions, state employees, and state funds from being used in any way to assist in the performance of elective abortions.

Judge Laughery's assertion that Planned Parenthood had been treated unfairly compared to "similarly situated situations" apparently refers in part to another instance of judicial misconduct.  In that case, another lawless federal judge, U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith, had ordered state health officials to exempt the Planned Parenthood Columbia clinic from certain state health and safety standards.

In commentary contained in the opinion that reflected the political nature of her ruling, Laughery claimed that DHSS officials had engaged in "hasty actions" that were the result of "political pressure."  She even made the completely unsubstantiated pronouncement that the Department was acting to revoke Planned Parenthood's license because of fears that its budget would be cut. 

Laughery provided no explanation as to why it is permissible for abortion clinics to be in violation of state law for extended periods of time.  Rather than this being a case of an abortion clinic being singled out for harsh treatment by state regulators, this is instead yet another episode of the abortion industry receiving special treatment by radical liberals sitting on the federal bench.

Judge Laughery also stated in her ruling that Planned Parenthood would suffer "irreparable harm" if she did not issue the preliminary injunction.  Not surprisingly, she made no reference to the "irreparable harm" suffered by children in the womb whose lives are snuffed out by profiteering abortionists.

Judge Laughery has instructed both the State of Missouri and Planned Parenthood to work toward a final resolution of the legal dispute by May 1st.  Similar to the legal fiasco overseen by Judge Ortrie Smith, Judge Laughery is going to supervise a negotiated settlement between the two parties irrespective of Missouri's state statutes and regulations.

Despite Laughery's politically motivated ruling, the Planned Parenthood clinic will not be able to resume providing abortions.  A separate requirement of state law regulating physicians prohibits any doctor from performing abortions unless they have clinical privileges at a hospital within 3o miles that offers obstetrical or gynecological care.  Were Colleen McNicholas or another abortionist to return to their bloody practice, they would be guilty of a misdemeanor under state law without such privileges.
Planned Parenthood stopped providing chemical abortions at its Columbia facility in late November after McNicholas lost her medical credentials at University Hospital.  The Columbia abortion clinic had resumed providing abortions over the summer when they recruited McNicholas to perform them.  McNicholas is a leading abortionist at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic.  She is a physician at Washington University Medical Center, and is on staff at Barnes Hospital and Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

In a chemical abortion, a woman is administered a regimen of two drugs.  The first "medication" causes the death of the unborn child in utero.  The second drug prompts the delivery of the remains of the preborn child, which are usually flushed down the toilet at home. 

The ultraliberal media continues to falsely describe this procedure as a "medical abortion."  There is nothing medicinal about it.  The RU-486 regimen is dangerous, resulting in many cases of excessive hemorraghing for the mother and the incomplete expulsion of fetal tissue, aside from the intentional destruction of the developing child.

In related news, officials at Planned Parenthood have announced they are going to defy a subpoena issued by a state legislative committee.  The Senate Sanctity of Life Committee has subpoenaed records from the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic relating to repeated incidents in which women have experienced medical emergencies at the facility.

Over the last five years on nearly 30 occasions, ambulances have rushed women to nearby hospital emergency rooms from the Reproductive Health Services clinic in the Central West End.  Planned Parenthood says they cannot release such documents because they would violate patient privacy. 

Senator Kurt Schaefer, the Chairman of the Senate Committee, says the argument is bogus, because the names of individuals can be easily redacted from the records.  "I guess there's something they don't want us to find out."

The Senate Committee had also issued a subpoena to St. Louis Planned Parenthood President Mary Kogut to appear before the committee, along with Dr. James Miller, the owner of the pathology company that provides pathology reports on abortions done at the facility.  Both Kogut and Miller have also chosen to defy the subpoenas.

The Sanctity of Life Committee has recommended to the full Senate that contempt proceedings be initiated against both Kogut and Miller.  Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard says he is prepared to enforce the subpoenas if the two continue to defy a lawful order for them to appear.  Should the full Senate find them in contempt, they could face fines or imprisonment, or both.

Joe's Signature