Christian Legal Group Represents Missouri in Abortion Case
Gov. Matt Blunt's office contracted with a Christian organization to defend the state in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood over newly enacted regulations targeting abortion clinics.
Sarah Posner | August 30, 2007 | web only
In a tone befitting a pubescent spat, the director of Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services last week informed the state Attorney General Jay Nixon that she would not be using his services in a lawsuit filed against the state by Planned Parenthood seeking to have a restrictive abortion law declared unconstitutional. It was a highly unusual move, since the attorney general is the state's lawyer, and it is his job to defend the constitutionality of state statutes when they are challenged in court.
"I did not believe I could trust you to defend me and my department vigorously," wrote Jane Drummond, general counsel to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt (son of the House Republican Whip Roy Blunt). "You," Drummond accused the state's chief law enforcement officer, Nixon, who happens to be the Democrat challenging Blunt in Missouri's gubernatorial race next year, "are radically pro-abortion."
In a final talk-to-the-hand flourish, Drummond demanded, "Please have your counsel contact my department related to this case through my new attorneys."
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Those new attorneys are with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the radically anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-separation-of-church-and-state legal powerhouse at the forefront of just about every real and imagined battle in the culture wars. Remember the "War on Christmas?" Gov. Blunt helped ADF fight it last year, when he sent a memo to directors of state agencies, telling them they shouldn't fear "official reprisal" for saying "Merry Christmas," and reassuring them that "
his holiday season should not give state employees reason to feel as though they must check their religious views at the door of a government building." ADF, which is dedicated to "protecting our heritage of prayer," praised Blunt's action, calling him one of "several highly visible public officials also gave the efforts of ADF even greater momentum."
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Four days before PPKM filed its lawsuit, the Missouri Republican Party signaled the coming politicization of the attorney general's role in the case. Calling for Attorney General Nixon to recuse himself from any prospective suit, the state GOP charged that Blunt's rival "has shown for more than a decade that he is unwilling to stand up in court on behalf of Missourians against Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion forces." The statement cited an eight-year-old case involving Nixon's reluctance to enforce a ban on state funding of Planned Parenthood.
Never mind that the voters of Missouri elected and reelected Nixon, and that Drummond's boss could be upended by him in the governor's race next year, should Nixon ride a wave of increasingly Democratic sentiment in the state. Never mind that Drummond was appointed by Blunt, whose campaign -- not to mention that of the GOP presidential candidate -- could get an assist from social conservatives for working to put Planned Parenthood out of business. For the GOP, it's Nixon who has politicized the process.
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A little eau du Rove, a little essence of Jesus, and voila! The state is now represented by a powerful organization with its own radical agenda. According to its website, "in 1994, God raised up" ADF to counter the American Civil Liberties Union's and Planned Parenthood's "distortion" of the Constitution. As a result of ADF's litigation efforts "the so-called 'wall of separation' ... is slowly starting to crumble." ADF has achieved "significant God-given victories ... as we strive for the day when all life is once again legally defended, protected, and affirmed."
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taken from:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=christian_legal_group_represents_missouri
((sigh)):( :eyes:
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