Kerry Messer to Represent
AUL in Missouri Legislature
By Jim Day
Messer, who has worked the legislature for
22 years, will continue to serve as president of the Missouri Family Network
(MFN) as he works
with AUL. With this new
partnership, Messer will be reinforced with AUL’s
national clout on abortion, cloning, embryonic stem-cell research, and other
pro-life issues as part of the many
pro-family issues covered by MFN.
In recent years, Messer and MFN have been leading the
battle to get Planned Parenthood out of Missouri public schools. Messer’s influence in the state legislature can
be noted by the references to his ministry’s advocacy on such issues in the
Governor’s State of the State Address.
Partnering with Messer
is a new project of AUL which is best known for its long-standing pro-life
legal expertise. AUL is in the process of creating a nation-wide network
and hopes to have a representative like Messer in every state that can lobby
the legislature and provide an open, active conduit between AUL’s
legal experts and state legislators and activists.
Messer stated in regards to the new partnership,
“For years I’ve been tangentially involved in the pro-life issues. Joining
with Americans United for Life will enable me to work on those pro-life issues
we all care about even more productively.”
Founded in 1971, Americans United for Life
is the nation’s oldest national pro-life organization. It is also one of the
countries most unusual. AUL specializes in helping state legislatures pass
the best pro-life laws possible—laws that will go into effect and reduce the
state’s abortion rate while continuing to undermine Roe
v. Wade in the courts. When those laws
are challenged in court by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, AUL helps the
state attorney general defend them.
According to AUL’s
Executive Director Daniel McConchie, the many different
and often conflicting decisions of the United States Supreme Court over the
past 34 years has required the pro-life movement to foster a highly-specialized
organization whose Constitutional expertise is unique.
“The Supreme Court’s abortion decisions since
Roe v. Wade has made abortion law a complete
mess in this country,” said McConchie. “Their
convoluted decisions continue to force state legislatures to guess at the
legal language the Court might or might not accept in common-sense laws like
parental consent and abortion clinic regulations. We help legislators
sort out what the best possible legal language is to make sure the law withstands
court challenge, goes into effect, and saves the lives of women and children.”
McConchie
said that this "mess" the Supreme Court has made of abortion law
is so unique that AUL really has no organizational peers. Even other areas
of legal advocacy such as environmental activism doesn't suffer from the same
roadblocks that stop pro-life laws from going into effect. Many times, pro-life
laws that die in the courts do so because of a few poorly chosen words.
Messer will be AUL's primary contact in the Missouri
legislature. During his daily activities, he will benefit from a direct link
with AUL's attorneys and experts on pro-life issues facing Missourians.
McConchie said that since the Supreme Court opened
the door to common-sense abortion restrictions in 1992, the advice of AUL's
experts has been upheld by the courts 100% of the time.
“The real key in a successful state law is
that it goes into effect. Only when a law is in effect can it have a
positive impact, save lives, and take the next step forward in undermining
Roe
v. Wade in the courts. Until we have
at least five Justices on the Supreme Court who will undo the terrible travesty
it created in 1973, we will work day by day passing new laws and save every
life we possibly can.”
When asked about how AUL can help Missouri,
Messer said, “By joining the experience and reputation of Americans United
for Life, we are working to build a synergy to impact the Missouri legislature
like we never have before.
Over the past 22 years I have observed the invaluable pro-life work of Missouri
Right to Life, Missouri’s Catholic Conference, and Campaign Life Missouri,
along with our own through MFN. Today
I have great expectations for what we can all do together to help defend human
life.”
