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12/11/23 Missouri Mondays - ATTN: MO GOP lawmakers pre-filed bills propose murder charges

ATTN: MO GOP lawmakers pre-filed bills propose murder charges for abortions! Take action NOW to help elect reproductive rights champions!



Welcome to another Missouri Mondays!


Last week Republican state lawmakers pre-filed bills for the upcoming 2024 legislative session making abortion punishible as murder in Missouri.


“The bills, sponsored by Representative Bob Titus (R-Christian County) and Senator Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), would each give an unborn child the same rights as someone already born. If either bill survives the lengthy legislative process, those who undergo abortions could face criminal charges if they receive an abortion in Missouri.”  AP News Dec 8


This is not a drill!! We must ALL do our part to protect fundamental rights and freedoms under threat by the extreme Missouri GOP.  Act NOW by volunteering and donating to reproductive rights champions! Check out the upcoming events list below for opportunities to get involved. To sign up to volunteer for MO House candidates and make donations go here: https://www.mohousedems.com/get-involved  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mhd-donate-now  For MO Senate candidates go here: https://www.mosendems.org/the-team



Thank you for staying informed and taking action! Together we make a difference!  Help us spread the word and share this link to sign up for Missouri Mondays weekly email https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw. 


 

UPCOMING EVENTS - ACTIONS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE


TAKE ACTION WITH THE MISSOURI VOTER PROTECTION COALITION (MOVPC)

TO PROTECT THE RIGHT TO VOTE 


Join the MOVPC weekly online meeting MONDAYS at 10 AM

Text “MOVPC” to 66866 or register HERE: bit.ly/protectmovoters


Our work to protect the vote requires our continued attention! So we hope you'll join our next MOVPC call where we will discuss the necessary steps in our fight to protect the right to vote in Missouri. MOVPC is a nonpartisan statewide network promoting access to the ballot and working to remove barriers to voting in Missouri!


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Holiday Happy Hour In Support of Maggie Nurrenbern for Missouri Senate Dist 17

TONIGHT Monday, December 11

5PM - 7PM

Trezo Mare

4105 N. Mulberry Dr.

Kansas City, MO  64116


Join us for a festive Holiday Happy Hour with Maggie Nurrenbern for Missouri Senate on December 11th! Let's celebrate the season with good cheer, lively conversation, and a shared vision for Missouri's Bright Future in 2024!  If you’re unable to make it tonight, donations are welcome here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/maggieformosenate


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Jackson County Democrats 

Holiday Party

Thursday, December 14

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Pipefitters Local 533

8600 Hillcrest Rd.

Kansas City, MO  64138


Join us for our annual Holiday Party hosted by the Pipefitters Local 533! There will be food and beverages provided, and any donations will go towards our efforts to continue supporting Democrats in Jackson County. We'll have a number of elected officials joining us and will hear some brief remarks about what's happening in the county and how we are preparing for 2024. We hope to see you there! 


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Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus and The Women In Politics Foundation, Inc.

Thursday, December 14

6PM - 8PM

The Simpson House 

4801 Walnut

Kansas City, MO 64111


Please join us for our Annual Holiday Party!


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South Kansas City Democrats

December Membership Meeting

Saturday, December 16

Noon

Red Bridge Library

453 E Red Bridge Rd

Kansas City, MO 64131


Join the South Kansas City Democrats for their December membership meeting.  Guest speaker will be 6th District KCMO City Councilman Johnathan Duncan.


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AFL-CIO Union-Made Holiday Gift Guide


Find that perfect holiday gift that carries a union label and is made in America. Shipping gifts this year? Make sure to ship using a union carrier like the U.S. Postal Service or UPS.  Links here: https://aflcio.org/MadeInAmerica/holiday-gifts


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Everytown for Gun Safety

Debunking Gun Myths at the Dinner Table


Every day, 120 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded. There are a lot of widespread myths and conflicting information about guns, gun violence, and gun safety laws in America. To set the record straight, we’ve developed a series of graphics to help you “fork over the facts” and dispel some of the most prominent myths about gun violence.


Help educate the people in your life about these important issues by sharing this information with your friends and family. Download and share these graphics on social media: https://www.everytown.org/debunking-gun-myths-at-the-dinner-table/#download-share-on-social-media


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The Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus Campaign School

Saturday, January 20, 2024

9AM - 3PM

Sylvester Powell Community Center

6200 Martway St

Mission, KS 66202


The GKCWPC Campaign School is an annual event focusing on supporting women who are interested in running for office and for people interested in working on campaigns at all levels of government. The event, which will be held at Sylvester Powell Community Center in Mission, KS from approximately 9am - 3pm will include all the basics: fundraising, public speaking, recruiting volunteers and talking about women's reproductive rights. The training is free of charge thanks to a grant from the Women in Politics Foundation.  Apply Here: https://forms.gle/F8xEfDd9KAVu6FYT7


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Meet Crystal Quade Democratic Candidate for Missouri Governor


“Growing up in rural Missouri, young Crystal Quade made the trek before daylight every morning to help her mom prepare the diner where she worked double or triple shifts waitressing.


They lived in a small house on a gravel road, and Crystal was the first in her family to graduate from high school. She worked her way through Missouri State, began her own family – and then became the Democratic Leader of the Missouri House of Representatives.


Crystal is leading our most important fights to restore our abortion rights, standing up to the biggest corporate special interests, and stopping China and Russia from buying up our farmland and squeezing Missouri farmers out.


Crystal will take on extremist Jay Ashcroft, who says he will ban abortion forever, and give more tax breaks to the wealthiest and most privileged families like the one he grew up in.


If you are looking for a new kind of leader, who will stand up for our working and farming families – meet Crystal Quade.”



Support Crystal's Campaign for Missouri's Future: https://crystalquade.com/


The Heartland Pod Interview with Rep. Crystal Quade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJwbn8m4_q8


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Missouri in the News


COMPETING MISSOURI ABORTION PETITIONS -  WATCH THIS SPACE!


One initiative petition campaign led by Republican Jamie Corley, would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, add an exemption for victims of rape but require women to report the assault to a crisis hotline. "Emily Wales, Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ CEO and president, said Corley’s ballot initiative reinforces stigma around abortion by allowing the government to declare what is a “good abortion versus a bad abortion.

“At the end of the day,” she said, “what it does is have non-physicians sitting in a position of determining what an individual’s private healthcare should be.”


11 other initiative petitions filed in March by St. Louis physician Anna Fitz-James proposing more expansive abortion and reproductive rights have been delayed in court battles over Secy of State Jay Ashcroft's deceptive and misleading ballot language. Ashcroft lost the final legal challenge but several months of delay creates a serious challenge for signature gathering to be completed by May for a measure to be on the November 2024 ballot.



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“Missouri abortion-rights amendments face ‘torturous’ process to make it to 2024 ballot - As one abortion initiative petition campaign gets off the ground, the other is still deciding whether to move forward on a tight timeline”


“Pulling off a successful ballot initiative campaign in Missouri is an undertaking so difficult that one Democratic political consultant compares it to skiing the slalom at the Olympics. 


There is a laundry list of deadlines to meet, an army of signature gatherers to hire, a host of legal battles to fight — all with a price tag that can quickly cost millions. 


“You’re going downhill at a very fast rate of speed,” said Jack Cardetti, who helped run a number of successful initiative petition campaigns in recent years. “You have to make decisions very quickly. And no matter how well you’re seeing, if you miss a single gate, you’re out, you’re disqualified.”


Two coalitions are hoping to put abortion on the 2024 ballot in Missouri, where virtually all abortions are illegal. The issue has proven to be a big winner on the ballot in numerous states this year, giving supporters hope Missouri will be next. 


But both groups face the same question: Is there enough time and money to get their initiatives off the ground?”



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“Abortions Would Lead to Murder Charges Under 2 Missouri Bills - 

State Senator Mike Moon is at it again”


“Women who receive abortions could face homicide charges under two proposals filed by two Republican Missouri legislators in the past week.


The bills, sponsored by Representative Bob Titus (R-Christian County) and Senator Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), would each give an unborn child the same rights as someone already born. If either bill survives the lengthy legislative process, those who undergo abortions could face criminal charges if they receive an abortion in Missouri.


Titus told the Associated Press no charges would be brought under his bill if people abide by the laws that were put in place upon Missouri's trigger law taking effect and banning abortion in the summer of 2022.


Yet the bills, both called "Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act," would add much harsher enforcement to the existing abortion law, which allows only those who "perform or induce" a pregnancy to be charged with a class-B felony. Whether that includes someone inducing their own abortion has been a matter of debate, but the bills would make the law clear: Performing abortions would be unlawful for both patient and caregiver.


Moon, a frequent flyer in the anti-abortion crusade, has filed similar bills in the last two years (see SB 699 and SB 356). All had the same name and none went further than a single hearing.


The latest bills do provide exemptions for women under duress or procedures performed to save the live of the mother after all "reasonable alternatives" have been exhausted. As with current Missouri law, however, rape or incest are not exceptions.


These pre-filed bills are just two of what will certainly be many GOP pushes as pro-choice advocates work to get abortion protection on state ballots in 2024.”



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“Missouri lawmakers propose allowing homicide charges for women who have abortions”


“Some Missouri lawmakers are renewing a call for the state to take an anti-abortion step that goes further than prominent anti-abortion groups want to go and that has not gained much traction in any state so far: a law that would allow homicide charges against women who obtain abortions.


Republicans in both the state House and Senate have introduced bills to be considered in the legislative session that begins next month to apply homicide laws on behalf of a victim who is an “unborn child at every stage of development.”


The bills would offer exceptions if the suspect is a woman who aborts a pregnancy after being coerced or threatened, or an abortion is provided by a physician to save the life of the pregnant woman.


“To me, it’s just about protecting a baby’s life like we do every other person’s life,” state Rep. Bob Titus, a first-term Republican who is sponsoring one of the measures, told The Associated Press. “The prosecution is just a consequence of taking an innocent human life.”


Titus said no charges would need to be brought under the bill, so long as people abide by the law already on the books that makes Missouri one of 14 states with bans in effect on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.


Titus said he has not discussed his bill with legislative leaders and did not base it on any model legislation, though it is aligned with a bill by Republican state Sen. Mike Moon, who represents the same area in southwestern Missouri.


Two groups are trying to get measures on ballots in Missouri in 2024 to legalize abortion in more cases. One would bar the government from infringing on abortion rights during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. The other, being crafted by moderate Republicans, would scale back restrictions to a lesser degree.


Abortion-related measures could be before voters in several states next year. Since last year, voters have sided with abortion rights in all seven states where the questions have been on the ballot.”



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“Ethics investigation into Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher continues

The House ethics committee met for nearly three hours Wednesday, the third time its held a closed-door hearing about alleged misconduct by Plocher”


An investigation into alleged misconduct by Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher remains ongoing, as a panel of state lawmakers emerged from a nearly three hour behind-closed-doors hearing on Wednesday and gave no indication of when the inquiry will conclude. 


The investigation of Plocher could stretch into the next legislative session, which begins on Jan. 3.


“Due process takes time,” said state Rep. Robert Sauls, an Independence Democrat and vice chair of the House Ethics Committee, later adding: “We want to be thorough to make sure that we are doing what we’re supposed to and ensuring that due process is followed.”


Wednesday’s hearing was the third by the House Ethics Committee to focus on Plocher. Proceedings of the committee are confidential, and none of the discussions, testimony or evidence gathered is public until a report is issued. The public notice for Wednesday’s hearing said the the committee would discuss a “personnel inquiry” and an ethics complaint, and lawmakers have neither confirmed nor denied the focus of the inquiry. 


But the investigation was launched after The Independent reported last month that Plocher on numerous occasions illegally sought reimbursement from the legislature for airfare, hotels and other travel costs already paid for by his campaign. 


The revelation followed weeks of scrutiny surrounding Plocher’s unsuccessful push to award a contract to a company to manage constituent information and a decision to fire his chief of staff. 


Plocher, a Republican from Des Peres running for lieutenant governor, has flatly denied any wrongdoing, chalking up false expense reports to a “checkbook error.” He paid back the illegal reimbursements, saying he and his wife — who is also his campaign treasurer — caught the mistakes and self-reported them. 


But though the false reports went back years, Plocher didn’t begin making repayments until two weeks after The Independent submitted a Sunshine request seeking his expense reports.


State Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain View and chair of the House Ethics Committee, told reporters following Wednesday’s hearing that the committee’s work is not done but a future hearing has not been officially scheduled. 


“Our task is to protect the integrity of the institution,” Kelly said, later adding: “Our job is to make sure that the ethics of the institution and of the individuals of this state that we work for are upheld.”




MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT!


With so much important news each week we don’t want you to miss a thing! Check out our MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cokjWlCh2EkY5K6bM357rjVPizZDzxlMqjAuoBQfoI/edit?usp=sharing


 

THANK YOU! for staying informed and taking action to make a difference!

Invite your friends and neighbors to join us and sign up for Missouri Action Alliance and this Missouri Mondays weekly email at bit.ly/3pF99Uw

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @MissouriAction, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MOActionAlliance and check out our website at http://www.MOActionAlliance.com

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