Missouri is one of the leading states in writing Pro-Life legislation that protects women and preborn children from the harms of abortion. In addition to a number of protections for vulnerable preborn babies on the books, the state has a long-standing rule prohibiting state funds from paying for abortions. Missouri’s most recent bold Pro-Life efforts have involved barring the abortion industry, including Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funding.
Even though these efforts have not yet ultimately succeeded, they are a model for what bold life-saving legislation is possible. By following Missouri’s lead on redirecting all taxpayer dollars away from the abortion industry, the Pro-Life movement could save more vulnerable preborn babies’ lives.
In 2018, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill designating funds for the Department of Social Services (DSS) with a resolutely Pro-Life provision. The bill allocated nearly $8 million to the Family Support Division, which has a program similar to Texas’s Alternatives to Abortion. Most notably, the bill also instructed DSS that, “No funds shall be expended on any program that performs abortions or that counsels women to have an abortion other than the exceptions required by federal law,” and that, “no funds shall be expended to any abortion facility.”
This meant that Planned Parenthood was disallowed from being reimbursed with Medicaid (also called MO HealthNet) funds for any of their services. There are 12 Planned Parenthood facilities in the state, one of which commits abortions. This policy reaffirmed the state’s pledge to defending preborn Life and to respecting taxpayers’ objections to the abortion industry’s morally reprehensible practices.
However, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling in June of 2020 declaring that the Pro-Life provisions violated the state’s constitutional single-subject requirement. Although general appropriations bills are permitted to have more than one subject, the court claimed that the specific rulemaking disqualified the bill from this exception, despite those rules being related to appropriations. This discouraging ruling removed the Pro-Life requirements from the budget. Far from disheartened, Pro-Life lawmakers worked tirelessly to reinstate a similar policy.
In the debates over a bill renewing a Medicaid funding tax, the 7-member Missouri Conservative Caucus pushed to include Pro-Life language prohibiting Planned Parenthood from participating in the state’s Uninsured Women’s Health Program, calling the program “non-negotiable.”
When the bill failed to pass in the regular session, Missouri governor Mike Parsons included the issue on the special session call. Tragically, this language was removed from the final version of the bill, largely due to the actions of apathetic Republicans.
Many GOP members of the Missouri Legislature, as well as Governor Parsons, were more interested in passing funding for health programs than they were in protecting Life. “I am Pro-Life…” Parsons said. “However, narrow political interests cannot be allowed to hold hostage vital health care funding and the success of our economy.” Of the 23 Republicans in the Missouri Senate, 11 of them, along with all 10 Democrats in the Senate shamefully agreed that ensuring the state is not sponsoring the abortion industry is merely a “narrow interest.”
Although not through legislation, Texas has successfully blocked Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood. In 2015, a discovery was made that the infamous abortion provider had blatantly violated federal regulations by engaging in trafficking of aborted baby body parts. Therefore, Planned Parenthood no longer had protection as a qualified Medicaid provider. Planned Parenthood fought back in court, and the lower court sided with them, but eventually the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Texas. Thus, currently Planned Parenthood is not eligible for Texas Medicaid funding. However, the ruling is not a permanent legislative solution, because Planned Parenthood can petition to renew their contract with Medicaid eventually or bureaucrats could change their minds in the future and reverse the decision.
Even when taxpayer money is not directly paying for abortions, any funding of the abortion industry provides support to the overall values of these businesses, provides them a customer base, and serves as a state seal of approval to their horrific works. Other states must follow the lead of Pro-Lifers in Missouri who are fighting to pass every possible measure to prevent any funding (local, state, or federal) from benefiting groups like Planned Parenthood that commit abortions.
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