Abstract:
The landmark 1989 "Webster v. Reproductive Health Services" Supreme Court decision, affirming the right of individual states to regulate abortion, galvanized debate across the US. No less so in Missouri, where the legislature had originally passed the law upheld by the court. Reconsideration of a law that legislators had assumed would not likely withstand judicial scrutiny now seemed as if it might dominate debate in the 1990 session of the Missouri General Assembly. In the eye of this political hurricane were legislative leaders, such as House Speaker Bob Griffin, and rank-and-file members such as Senator Bob Johnson. This case explores the pressures on each as they balance the demands of interest groups, their view of unorganized public opinion and their obligations to their peers.