JEFFERSON CITY - Pro-abortion Democrat Jay Nixon’s claim that he has always defended pro-life legislation is a lie based on his 1999 decision to turn over defense of such legislation to an outside attorney because of his own conflict of interest.

In a statement issued yesterday to the Columbia Daily Tribune, Nixon said in reference to pro-life legislation currently being challenged in court by Planned Parenthood:  “…and as in the past, we will defend the law.”

Nixon must be thinking about a different past.

“‘I’m pro-choice, I have a conflict’ of interest,” Nixon told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1999 when he turned over the defense of a state funding ban for abortions challenged in court by Planned Parenthood to an outside attorney. As previously noted, Nixon’s belief that he can defend pro-life legislation against political donor Planned Parenthood is ridiculous given his pro-abortion policies.

“Jay Nixon is lying to Missourians. The record shows that he has not always defended pro-life legislation and, by his own admission, has said that his pro-abortion policies constitute a conflict of interest in defending such legislation,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “There is no way Jay Nixon can justify fighting for the unborn when he abandoned them long ago for political purposes, and he cannot lie his way out of that truth.”