Missouri Roundtable for Life Fights Cloning on Three Fronts
By Jim Day

    Associated Press: “A Missouri trial judge said Tuesday that a state constitutional amendment endorsing stem cell research likely creates problems for a law set up to award life science research grants. 

At issue in the case before Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan is whether state grants for life sciences research may be spent on stem cell research. Critics of embryonic stem cell research have filed suit seeking to block $21 million from going toward the research grants over fears for how the money will be used.”  This article describes the reactions to a lawsuit brought on behalf of taxpayers by the Missouri Roundtable for Life.  The acknowledgement in secular courts and media that a problem exists is groundbreaking.
    Ask former Missouri State Senator John Loudon “how the fight goes against cloning and for life” and he will tell you - pointblank - “it’s a multi-front battle but we have joined the fight with strength, with certainty, and with the truth on our side.”  Loudon is one of the leaders of the Missouri Roundtable for Life, the pro-life group that is leading the fights for life.
    The Missouri Roundtable for Life (MRFL) is a grassroots effort started in the summer of 2006 by long-time pro-life supporter, Fred N. Sauer, to assist in the fight against the passage of Amendment 2.  The Roundtable founders found support from a wide range of Missouri pro-lifers - including members of the Missouri Baptist Convention, the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and other groups.  In 2006, the Roundtable specifically focused on disseminating information to refute the misleading claims of Amendment 2 proponents.  The Roundtable distributed 250,000 copies of its first research document entitled “Missouri Roundtable For Life Presents: A Word-By-Word Critique of the So-Called ‘Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.’”  This document became an essential primer for opponents of Amendment 2 around the state.  Today, the Roundtable continues as an educational force for life while adding a legal component to its effort.  The Roundtable’s President, Ed Martin, an attorney who sued Governor Rod Blagojevich for his persecution of pro-life pharmacists and former chief of staff to Governor Matt Blunt, described the Roundtable as “a statewide public policy organization focused on telling Missourians the truth and fighting for life.”

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Obama Urged to Back Public Funding in an Abortion Bailout
By Michael Foust

     More than 60 abortion rights groups have signed a 55-page report to President-elect Obama urging him to include abortion coverage in any national health care plan and to help roll back dozens of pro-life laws, including bans on taxpayer funding of abortion and partial-birth abortion in what one pro-life group says would amount to an “abortion bailout.”
    The report -- posted at Obama’s transition website Change.gov -- is a sort of ‘wish list’ by abortion groups for the incoming administration.  Among its signatories are the American Civil Liberties Union, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.  The report is lengthy but begins with 15 items the groups hope Obama prioritizes in his first 100 days. The groups titled their report “Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration.”
    Even though Obama’s website makes it clear “the document was produced by an outside party and submitted” to the Obama transition team, pro-life groups nevertheless are concerned, in part because pro-choice groups made up part of Obama’s election base, and also because Obama himself is a staunch pro-choicer who once told a likeminded audience he “will never back down” in his support of abortion rights.
    “President-elect Barack Obama spoke of finding ‘common ground’ on abortion policy, but abortion advocacy groups clearly see an open door,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List said in a news release.  “After a decade of common-sense restrictions on taxpayer funding, the abortion industry thinks it deserves a bailout from President-elect Obama.”
    The Susan B. Anthony List is encouraging pro-lifers to contact their Senators through www.sba-list.org/abortionbailout and urge them to oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.  The goal is to secure 41 votes to block any such legislation with a filibuster.

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