LEGISLATURE CREATES CRIME OF INFANTICIDE

A key bill passed by the General Assembly in the just-concluded session is House Bill 427, measure creating the new crime of infanticide for performing certain late-term abortions. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bill Luetkenhaus, D-Josephsville, and co-sponsored by 109 of his colleagues, passed by veto-proof margins in both the House (127-29) and Senate (27-6). It takes 109 votes in the House and 23 votes in the Senate to override a gubernatorial veto. Successful overrides are rare; only six vetoes have been overridden in all Missouri history.

All this talk of vetoes and the margins needed to override them are relevant because of the stance of Gov. Mel Carnahan, easily the most pro-abortion governor in Missouri history. Two years ago, Gov. Carnahan made good on a veto threat and saw it sustained, notwithstanding the fact that the bill had passed by similar overhwelming margins in both houses.

Gov. Carnahan says the bill is flawed, as it would place women's health at risk because it allows no exception for threats to her health. (As with previous versions, it does contain an exception for the life of the mother.) The governor's side of this debate has the difficult task of explaining why we need a health exception for infanticide, in the case of a gruesome procedure, unrecognized in the medical literature, which takes two to three days to perform. We're glad that bearing such a heavy burden of proof is his and not ours.

The simple fact is that the debate over partial-birth abortion marks an historic turning point in the long-running abortion debate ignited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Roe V. Wade in 1973. For most of that time the pro-choice side has cunningly phrased the debate in terms of a woman's right to choose. But the deeply troubling matter of late-term abortions of full-term babies presents us with the stark reality of another life at stake.

After the governor's expected veto, the General Assembly gets the final say. The second week in September, House and Senate members will reconvene in Jefferson City for their annual veto session. It is then that the great majority of Missourians, who understand the horrific nature of this gruesome procedure, can make themselves heard through their elected representatives. Let this be the year that we see the sixth override of a gubernatorial veto in Missouri history, on the bill creating the new crime of infanticide.