JEFFERSON CITY, MO, April 15, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Missouri legislators are considering a state constitutional amendment that says preborn babies have a right to life “at every stage of biological development.”
On Tuesday, a state House committee passed House Joint Resolution 98, introduced by Rep. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), which proposes an amendment to the Missouri Constitution. Ultimately the hope is to put the amendment in front of voters.
“All persons, including unborn human children at every stage of biological development, have a natural right to life,” the proposed amendment states. “When government does not confer this security, it fails in its chief design.”
If passed, the amendment would order the state to “protect such life from deprivation by the state or private action to the extent permitted by the federal constitution.”
It also spells out that “nothing in this (Missouri) constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”
If placed on the ballot, voters in this swing state would be asked whether “an unborn child is a person with a right to life which cannot be deprived by state or private action without due process and equal protection of law.”
Rep. Moon told the Associated Press that he wants to “set a foundation in the (state) Constitution that protects the health of women and unborn children.”
Josh Craddock of Personhood USA told LifeSiteNews, “Missouri is just one of many states which have recently passed a personhood measure out of committee and which will be brought to a vote in the next few weeks.”
“The personhood bills in Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina seek to finally recognize that all human beings, including unborn children, are persons with rights and dignity under the law,” Personhood USA’s vice president continued. “This legislative energy proves that the personhood movement is vibrant and growing across the nation.”
North Dakota and Colorado rejected similar amendments in 2014. In 2012, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that granting personhood to human beings in-the-womb amounted to an improper ban on abortion.
An Alabama House committee passed another personhood amendment earlier this month.
If passed by the legislature, the amendment will go before Missouri voters in November.
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