(Impressive List of Related Radio Links Found at the Bottom of this Copy)
A few years ago, 50-year Pastor William McConkey of Sutter Presbyterian Church in the St. Louis area called and invited Joan and me to go with him to a campaign event in behalf of Missouri House of Representatives candidate Andrew Koenig (“Kay’ nig”). Andrew is the grandson of a delightful member of Sutter Church, the late Mrs. Singer, also one of our friends. Joan and I went, and we are delighted that we did. Andrew was elected to the “House,” then, in a few years, elected to the Missouri’s Senate.
Andrew now has become a part of history, having enthusiastically supported pro-life legislation called the “heartbeat” bill, a legal instrument intended to save the lives of precious and innocent unborn children!
His biography notes that “in addition to his legislative duties, Senator Koenig is the owner of a construction company that does roofing and painting. He also is a licensed insurance adjuster.”
Andrew, his wife Brooke and their children reside in Manchester, MO, are involved in a good West St. Louis county church, West County Assembly of God. Their children have good Bible names – Jeremiah, Isaac, Gideon, Lily (for “the Lily of the Valley?”) and Levi. (I’d say their children have a lot to live up to!)
Perhaps it is an important scripture in Jeremiah that further motivates Senator Koenig to save the lives of unborn children: “[God said to Jeremiah] Before I formed YOU in the womb, I knew YOU, and before YOU were born, I consecrated YOU: I have appointed YOU a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Five times God declared that when Jeremiah was in the womb, he was a “YOU,” a person!
Credit and appreciation for the use of large portions of the material below from an article dated May 16, 2019 from Jefferson City, MO by “CNA:”
“The Missouri Senate and House has passed very signification that would ban most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. Legislators responsible for the bill have said that, unlike recent measures in other states, the bill is specifically designed to pass scrutiny under legal appeal.
House Bill 126 includes a ban on all abortions past eight weeks of pregnancy except in cases of a medical emergency.
“I think we’ve crafted a bill that will win in the courts,” state Senator Andrew Koenig (pronounced “Kay’ nig,”) a key sponsor of the bill, and signed by Missouri’s executive officer, Governor Mike Parson.
According to Koenig, the bill’s provisions are justified by a 98.5% chance of an unborn child surviving to term after eight weeks, compared to a 24% chance of a natural miscarriage at five weeks and under.
“We believe that the state of Missouri has an interest in protecting that viable pregnancy [after eight weeks],” the Senator said.
State Representative Nick Schroer, the bill’s sponsor in the House … that he worked with fellow lawyers to craft the bill so that it would stand up to judicial scrutiny.
“We looked at a bunch of case law and worked with attorneys on this,” Schroer said.
Schroer said that should a district court rule against the bill’s eight-week ban coming into force, the law would still include a further ban at 14 weeks. Schroer said roughly two-thirds of abortions in Missouri take place before 10 weeks.
The bill invokes the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and argues that most abortions performed at 14 weeks gestation involve in utero dismemberment, which the bill terms “cruel and unusual punishment.”
While the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals has not previously struck down a 14-week ban, Koenig noted, even if it were to do so, the bills contain additional bans at 18 and 20 weeks, when doctors are required to certify that the unborn child can feel pain.
“We call it the ‘heartbeat bill,’ but it actually operates a lot differently than any other heartbeat bill that’s passed,” Koenig explained.
Several states, including most recently Georgia, have passed so-called “heartbeat bills” which would prohibit abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia currently have “heartbeat” laws waiting to come into force, while courts have struck down similar restrictions in North Dakota and Iowa.
The Missouri bill’s sponsors say they knew that to avoid falling to similar legal challenges, they had to draft a bill not already covered by court precedent.
“We need to give the courts something that doesn’t have precedent behind it, but accomplishes the same goals,” Koenig said.
“Ultimately I think other states can take our language and start really limiting abortion, because I think our law will, for the most part, get upheld.”
The Missouri vote came hours after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a near-total ban on almost all abortions in that state. Unlike the Missouri bill, the Alabama law is intended to generate a court battle and challenge the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.
“[Our law] is not a piece of legislation that is designed for a challenge,” Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr told the Associated Press.
“This is the type of legislation that is designed to withstand a challenge and to actually save lives in our state.”
The Missouri bill also provides for a 70% tax credit for donations Missourians make to pregnancy resource centers on or after January 1, 2021 to foster a “culture of life” in the state, Koenig said.
“ … The law would also prohibit “selective” abortions following a medical diagnosis or disability such as Down syndrome, or on the basis of the race or sex of a baby.
“For me as a pro-life Catholic, this is common sense to me,” Schroer said.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that since peaking at more than 20,000 per year in the 1980s, in 2017 the annual number of abortions in Missouri had dropped to fewer than 7,000.
The bill would also require any abortion providers operating in the state to have at least $3 million in insurance to cover women in case of botched abortion procedures.
“I think that’s actually a huge provision we added in the (Missouri) Senate,” Koenig said. “I think ultimately we’ll be able to eliminate abortion in Missouri because of this bill, but I think also because Planned Parenthood would just say it’s not worth doing business in the state of Missouri.”
Missouri has only one Planned Parenthood clinic authorized to perform abortions in the state, located in St. Louis. And, as I write, word has just been received that it has lost its license.
A Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, MO has been blocked from performing abortions since October 2018, after the facility failed to adhere to state rules and license expired. No abortions have been performed there since.”
Related radio “links” related to saving the lives of unborn babies…
To hear … “Physician/Senator Robert Onder, Chief Sponsor of 2019 Missouri legislation that will save more innocent babies in the womb” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2019/06/10/physician-senator-robert-onder-chief-sponsor-of-2019-missouri-legislation-that-will-save-more-innocent-babies-in-the-womb/;
To hear … “Pregnant, unmarried in 1905, she chose life for her baby; Missouri Senator Delbert Scott talks of his great-grandma!” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2016/08/25/pregnant-unmarried-in-1905-she-chose-life-for-her-baby-senator-scott-talks-of-his-great-grandma/; (Then Senator Scott – now President of Kansas Christian College — told me that his late great-grandmother now has more than 100 direct descendants – including himself – because she let her baby live!)
To hear … “Lobbyist Sam Lee defends unborn children. Why? ‘BEFORE I (GOD) FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB, I KNEW YOU” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2017/01/29/lobbyist-sam-lee-defends-unborn-children-why-before-i-god-formed-you-in-the-womb-i-knew-you/;
To hear … “St Louis Archbishop Carlson resists city efforts ‘to make St. Louis a sanctuary city for abortion’” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2017/02/09/st-louis-archbishop-carlson-resists-city-efforts-to-make-st-louis-a-sanctuary-city-for-abortion/; (Thanks be to God that the Missouri Legislature took legislative actions that forbade St. Louis becoming a “… sanctuary city for abortion …”)
To hear … “Dr Larry Lewis: “God can forgive abortions!” Led largest denomination to affirm saving unborn babies” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2016/08/10/dr-larry-lewis-god-can-forgive-abortions-led-largest-denomination-to-affirm-saving-unborn-babies/;
To hear … “Connie Eller: post-abortive, received Christ, forgiven, joyful, began ‘Blacks for Life’” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2014/01/30/connie-eller-post-abortive-received-christ-forgiven-joyful-began-blacks-for-life/
To hear … “James Robison: conceived by rape, doctor wouldn’t abort him; received Christ, preached Good News to millions” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2019/03/18/james-robison-conceived-by-rape-doctor-wouldnt-abort-him-received-christ-preached-good-news-to-millions/
To hear … “Samuel Lee, 33-year legislative lobbyist for the unborn, about recent actions saving their lives!” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2017/10/03/samuel-lee-33-year-legislative-lobbyist-unborn-recent-actions-saving-lives/;
To hear … “Connie Eller, Blacks for Life leader; eliminated her 1st unborn baby; later found forgiveness, peace” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2010/02/02/connie-eller-blacks-for-life-leader-eliminated-her-1st-unborn-baby-later-found-forgiveness-peace/
To hear … “Dr. Larry Lewis: his gripping story leading USA’s largest protestant denomination to support life” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2014/08/15/dr-larry-lewis-his-gripping-story-leading-usas-largest-protestant-denomination-to-support-life/;
To hear … “Peggy Fortner and I share 4 terrific grandchildren and a passion to save lives of unborn children!” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2017/07/13/peggy-fortner-share-4-terrific-grandchildren-passion-save-lives-unborn-children /
To hear … “Scott, Senator Delbert June 5, 2007” … click on … http://haroldhendrick.com/2007/06/21/scott-senator-delbert-june-5-2007/ ;