[KR: One couldn’t make up this story and produce something funnier than what this legislative panel in Missouri has produced. Some humorous reading to start the week…]

Mo. panel: Immigration, abortion linked
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writer
November 13, 2006

A Republican-led legislative panel claims in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.

The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform also claims “liberal social welfare policies” have discouraged Americans from working and encouraged immigrants to cross the border illegally. The statements about abortion, welfare policies and a recommendation to abolish income taxes in favor of sales taxes were inserted into the immigration report by the committee chairman, Rep. Ed Emery.
All six Democrats on the panel refused to sign the report. Some of them called the abortion assertion ridiculous and embarrassing.  “There’s a lot of editorial comment there that I couldn’t really stomach,” Rep. Trent Skaggs said Monday. “To be honest, I think it’s a little delusional.”

All 10 Republican committee members signed the report, though one of them, Rep. Billy Pat Wright, said Monday he didn’t recall it connecting abortion and illegal immigration.

Emery, who equates abortion to murder, defended the assertions.
“We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can’t get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers,” Emery said. “You don’t have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it’s not too surprising we would be desperate for workers.”
National Right to Life estimates there have been more than 47 million abortions since the Supreme Court established a woman’s right to abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The immigration report estimates there are 80,000 fewer Missourians because of abortion, many of whom now would have been in a “highly productive age group for workers.”

The abortion connection to illegal immigration was listed under the report’s recommendations on federal social policies and potential state legislative actions on illegal hiring.
“Suggestions for how to stop illegal hiring varied without any simple solution,” the report states. “The lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work.”

Democrats contend the abortion statement wasn’t discussed, much less agreed to, by the committee. Emery said there was some testimony about abortion during a question-and-answer session at one of the hearings, although he couldn’t recall by whom.
“I felt like that was significant enough and fundamental enough that it warranted addressing it in the report,” he said.

Missouri does not keep records of oral testimony during legislative committee hearings. Skaggs said the abortion statement undermines the credibility of the entire report, which was submitted to the House speaker’s office late last week.
“That’s ridiculous to draw that conclusion. I don’t think that has anything to do with immigration,” said committee member Rep. Ed Wildberger, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus.
The report also includes short essays by Emery about the history of immigration, the purpose of immigration laws and the importance of a common language. In those, he notes “the issue of illegal immigration does not lend itself to compromise.”