Missouri Democrats Delete Platform's Pro-Life Welcome, Reversing July Vote
In July, the Missouri Democratic Party voted to add an amendment to its platform welcoming "a diversity of views on abortion." But it didn't leave the welcome mat out for long: On Saturday, the state committee reversed course, voting overwhelmingly to delete the controversial addition.
The July amendment, which was pushed by former state Representative Joan Barry (D-St. Louis County), had been a last-minute amendment to the work of the party's platform committee. It was emailed to members one day before a scheduled vote on a new platform — and the vote ended up taking place on a day that many party activists had already committed to being at immigration protests. After its narrow 31-25 approval, anger ran high.
And perhaps that's one reason the vote to strip the amendment's language just one month later wasn't even close. Even Barry voted abstained rather than voting no. (An unofficial tally live-tweeted by Planned Parenthood staffer Sarah Felts listed sixty-one in favor, two abstentions, and none opposed.)
Stephen Webber, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, said this in a statement:
Democrats will continue to fight [to] defend the full spectrum of women’s reproductive rights ensured in Roe v. Wade, including the right to safely end a pregnancy, to safely carry a pregnancy to term, and the right to raise your family in a safe and healthy environment.
Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/08/13/missouri-democrats-remove-pro-life-welcome-from-platform-reversing-july-vote
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