JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Family Policy Council named Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, as their Missouri Family Champion of the Year for 2015 Tuesday.
Schaefer said he was grateful to receive the honor.
“I’m proud of the important work we’ve done in the Sanctity of Life Committee,” Schaefer said. “I think we’ve been able to gain some victories in the preservation and protection of Missouri families.”
Joe Ortwerth, the executive director of the organization, cited Schaefer’s work on the Senate Sanctity of Life Committee as the reason for their decision.
“Schaefer’s valiant pro-life efforts have earned him the scorn of allies of the abortion industry,” Ortwerth wrote. “He has been harshly vilified by the liberal lynch mob on the Mizzou campus and by the ultraliberal media. He has even had a death threat phoned in to his office in the State Capitol Building.
“However, Senator Schaefer has gained the admiration and confidence of pro-life organizations in Missouri, including the Missouri Family Policy Council. That is why we are proud to award him the honor of being Missouri Family Champion for 2015. We are grateful to him and his pro-life colleagues in the General Assembly for their determined efforts to keep Missouri taxpayers from underwriting or facilitating the killing of preborn children through a taxpayer-supported institution like the University of Missouri.”
Schaefer has heightened his stature among anti-abortion groups in combating Planned Parenthood across the state since videos alleging that the group was trafficking in fetal tissue were released by an anti-abortion organization in July.
The senator pulled the strings behind the revocation of refer-and-follow privileges for Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the doctor providing abortions at the Columbia Planned Parenthood clinic. That act, in essence, almost led to the clinic losing its ASC license which would prevent them performing abortions at the clinic. However, as of Monday, the affiliate will keep its license until May 1, 2016 by order of U.S. District Judge Janette Laughery.
Regardless of outcome, Schaefer has made waves in socially conservative circles, and the accolade granted by the Missouri family Policy Council should serve him well in his primary race for attorney general against University of Missouri law professor Josh Hawley.
