Legislative Round Table - May 29, 2026

Dr. David Stansfield, a retired family medicine physician, recently spoke with Jamie Morris on MCC from the Capitol podcast, about the critical need to restore basic protections for women at abortion clinics that were lost after the passage of the 2024 pro-abortion constitutional amendment.Dr. Stansfield, president of the Catholic Medical Association's St. Louis Guild, stated that Amendment 3 is a step in the right direction toward more ethical and medically responsible abortion regulations.

Jamie Morris, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Missouri Catholic Conference, joins Brandy Meeks, President of the Vitae Foundation, to discuss Vitae’s research on the men’s emotional perceptions of abortion and unexpected pregnancy, along with an update on pro-life Amendment 3.

Curt Wichmer, MCC Legislative Counsel, recently sat down with Heidi Moore, Executive Director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP), to discuss the work of MADP, the current landscape of executions in Missouri, how to get involved, and judicial loophole.

MCC Executive Director and General Counsel Jamie Morris discusses legislative victories and challenges from the legislative session with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel, and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, Hispanic Outreach Manager. 

Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph gave the homily for the Midwest March for Life 2026 Mass.

In the latest MCC from the Capitol podcast, Jamie Morris, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel, discusses updates on legislation that the MCC is following with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel, and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, Hispanic Outreach Manager. They discuss the hearing on a bill to repeal the death penalty, a bill that would establish the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, a bill that would require ID to view pornographic websites, as well as an update on Amendment 3. (Thanks to GovWatch for the death penalty hearing audio clips.)

Jamie Morris, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel, spoke with Fr. Peter Fonseca regarding the Catholic Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life and rejecting physician-assisted suicide.Fr. Peter Fonseca serves as the Director of Continuing Formation for Priests in the Archdiocese of St. Louis while pursuing a PhD in health care ethics at St. Louis University. He has a strong background in health care ethics and was formerly a medical student.Mr. Morris and Fr. Fonseca discuss the current state of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. and around the world and what the future of healthcare looks like for the patient and the doctor.

Executive Director and General Counsel, Jamie Morris, discusses legislation that the MCC is following with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, hispanic Outreach Manager

Missouri is now one of just 10 states in the country with a correctional nursery program.  Before the program’s launch, incarcerated mothers were typically separated from their newborns within 24 to 48 hours after delivery. Infants were usually placed with relatives or sometimes were placed into the foster care system.  This program offers a different path—one grounded in dignity, healing, and the belief in second chances. MCC talks with Kim Perkins, nursery program manager at  the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia. Kim discusses the challenges and successes of the program.

The Missouri Catholic Conference’s Legislative Counsel, Curt Wichmer, recently met with Emmjolee Mendoza-Waters, Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network’s (CMN) Death Penalty Abolition Program, on the MCC from the Capitol Podcast. Topics of discussion included an outline of CMN’s mission and various efforts to curb the prevalence of capital punishment in the United States, as well as how Missouri stands apart from virtually every other state in the country in its use of judicial override at death penalty sentencing trials.