In the News

The following are recent media clips that show that the voice of Missouri Roundtable For Life is growing louder, poised with Missourians to undo the effects of Amendment 2!

Judge to rule in October on stem cell funding suit

STLToday.com discusses the upcoming hearing on Amendment 2

Could Amendment 2 be repealed?

Keith Miller with Missouri Roundtable chatted with Former Missouri State Representative Mark Wright on News Talk KSGF about what they are doing to get Amendment 2 stopped.
Click here to listen to their conversation about what could happen to Missouri.
Click here to go straight to the audio file.

BREAKING NEWS - UPDATE REGARDING HEARING ON MOTION FOR TRO IN MISSOURI ROUNDTABLE ET AL. V. STEELMAN, ET AL.

Please note that there will be a hearing in Missouri Roundtable for Life, et al. v. Steelman, et al. tomorrow at 3:30 pm before Judge Beetem in Cole County Circuit Court.

A representative of the Missouri Roundtable for Life will be available immediately after the hearing to speak with members of the press.

Todd Jones
Executive Director, Missouri Roundtable for Life

TAXPAYERS PETITION TO STOP PUBLIC FUNDS FROM BEING USED FOR ABORTION, CLONING AND HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION

Monday, June 30, 2008

JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Taxpayers Fred N. Sauer and the Missouri Roundtable for Life filed a petition today in Cole County Circuit Court to protect public funds from being spent in ways that conflict with existing Missouri law, with the will of the Missouri legislature, and with the understanding of voters in Missouri who voted on Amendment 2 in 2006.

The petition, filed in Cole County Circuit Court seeks a temporary restraining order to immediately stop public funds from being transferred from the Missouri Treasury to the Life Sciences Trust Fund as a result of the budget bill HB2007 which was signed by the governor on Friday, June 27, 2008. The petition also seeks a permanent injunction and declaratory relief.

“We are asking the Court to answer two very simple questions” said Fred N. Sauer, a founder of the Missouri Roundtable for Life and a plaintiff in the case. “First, do the prohibitions on the use of public funds for abortion services, human cloning, and prohibited human research that are part of the Life Sciences Trust Fund law still apply after the voters passed Amendment 2 in 2006? And, second, does Amendment 2 limit the appropriation authority of the legislature by requiring that any institution that does certain research never have its state appropriation reduced in subsequent years?”

This first question focuses on the Missouri Life Sciences Trust Fund, the Missouri Life Sciences Research Board, and the related quasi-governmental entity the Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC). The Life Sciences Trust fund includes specific funding prohibitions imposed by law at its formation in 2003; specifically, there are prohibitions against the use of public funds from the Fund for abortion services, human cloning, and prohibited human research. Before the Fund, its Board, and MTC proceed with funding decisions in distributing the public funds appropriated in HB2007, Missouri taxpayers need to know if these prohibitions remain in force or if they have been changed in any way.

The second question at issue in this petition is based on the fact that Amendment 2, passed by voters by a small margin in 2006, appears to have created a perpetual entitlement to public funds for some entities. According to the clear language of Amendment 2 (see Art. III,, § 38(d).5 and Art. III, § 38(d).7.) and Amendment 2’s public proponents (one of whom, Don Rubin, is currently involved in distributing public funds through his role on the MTC), Amendment 2 protects any entity that receives public funds and does embryonic stem cell research (with private or public money) from ever having their appropriation reduced in any way. That is, any entity that receives any public funds may never receive less if they do embryonic stem cell research. This is clearly stated on Mr. Rubin’s website – see Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (“Does the Missouri Constitution now require any state or taxpayer funding for stem cell research?”) at http://www.missouricures.com/site/PageServer?pagename=faq#initiative. If the elected legislators appropriating authority has been limited in this manner, taxpayers deserve to know BEFORE any public funds are dispersed to the Life Sciences Trust Fund since any subsequent dispersals from the Fund by its Board or MTC will be in dispersals that may never be reduced.

The Plaintiffs expect to have a hearing before the Circuit Court in the next 36-48 hours.