Committee report says abortion major cause of illegal immigration

Not long ago, I criticized our Joplin print media for its lack of coverage of the Special Immigration Committee hearing held at Missouri Southern State University.
The committee, headed by Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, was charged with coming up with a strategy for dealing with illegal immigration in the state. No one from the Joplin Globe or Joplin Daily covered the meeting (as I recall, our local television stations did provide coverage).
That indifference was not limited to Joplin. Few articles were written about the Emery committee's hearings and an article posted today by Associated Press reporter David Lieb indicates that neglect may keep the mainstream media from determining the background of the committee's controversial report, which has just been released.
The committee report blames "liberal social welfare policies" for illegal immigration problems in Missouri and particularly singles out abortion:

"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

In the AP article, Emery says testimony about abortion's link to the immigration problem came up during a question-and-answer session during the committee's hearings, but he could not recall who brought it up. The AP article noted that transcripts of committee hearings are not kept.

Readers of The Turner Report were already aware that this "testimony" came from Emery himself and was in the form of a lecture during a hearing in Springfield (the Springfield media apparently failed to cover the hearings, as well). The Aug. 6 Turner Report, citing a post in the Ozarks Angel blog, indicate that the impetus for adding the abortion references in the report can be directly traced to Emery.
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I have never been hesitant to say that I am pro-life, but to boil down the immigration problem in Missouri to a breakdown of society caused by abortion and by all things that Ed Emery considers to be liberal makes this committee's report laughable.
Fortunately for Missourians, the state, much like the federal government, has a long habit of holding hearings, suggesting reforms, then allowing those suggestions to gather dust on the shelf. Hopefully that will be the case with this report, or Missouri could end up being a laughingstock.