Missouri proposals could bring abortion back to the vote

Missouri voters can decide whether to restore abortion rights in the state if constitutional amendments unveiled Thursday hit the 2024 ballot.

The proposals amend the Missouri Constitution to protect the right to abortion and pregnant women, as well as access to birth control.

Currently, most abortions in the state are prohibited by law. There are exceptions for emergency medical care, but not for cases of rape or incest.

Missouri lawmakers are trying to tighten the ban on abortion.

Missouri’s proposals are backed by a new group called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which has hired at least one Democratic strategist from Missouri. The group and its treasurer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The Republican-led Missouri legislature drafted legislation, signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in 2019, to ban most abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. The law went into effect last year following a court decision to overturn constitutional protections for abortion.

Several coalitions of lawmakers, including the top Republican donor, tried to put the bill to a public vote in 2019. him to approve them.

Supporters eventually gave up trying to put the bill to a public vote, accusing Ashcroft of dragging his feet on proposals and giving them the impossible task of collecting the roughly 100,000 voter signatures needed in just two weeks.

Ashcroft will also play a role in the upcoming Missouri constitutional amendments. His office is responsible for writing summaries of proposals that are used as a guide for voters.

After Ashcroft and other elected officials complete their resumes and financial analysis, attorneys can begin collecting the voter signatures needed to put the proposal on the ballot.

A motion put forward by Missouri activists would allow a referendum on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion at the state level. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, file)

Abortion rights supporters in Missouri were the last to reach out directly to voters in hopes of restoring the rights lost after Rowe’s fall.

Kansas voters in August loudly declared their desire to protect the right to abortion, rejecting a vote to add language to the Kansas Constitution that it does not grant the right to abortion.

Abortion rights advocates won in four states where access was put on the ballot in November as voters enshrined it in the Michigan battlefield state constitution, as well as in blue California and Vermont — and defeated an anti-abortion measure in the deep state. red Kentucky.

In February, Ohio’s defenders submitted proposals for a vote to establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” with “reasonable limits.”

Proposed amendments to the Missouri constitution would allow the Republican-led legislature and state agencies to impose some restrictions on abortion.

AGAINST ABORTION CLERGIES SUIT IN MISSOURI OVER POST-ROE PROHIBITION

But abortion restrictions will only be allowed “if they are for a limited purpose and have a limited effect on improving or maintaining the health of the person seeking medical care, are consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and do not interfere with that person’s autonomy of decision making.” the amendment says.

Penalties for both patients seeking reproductive care and healthcare workers will be outlawed.

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers this year have focused on raising the bar for amending the state constitution from a simple majority vote to at least 60%, which could make abortion rights proposals difficult to pass.

Republican legislators have for years tried to crack down on spur-of-the-moment petitions that were used to pass policies that the Republican-led legislature has either avoided or opposed. For example, the 2020 citizen-led voting initiative forced the state to expand Medicaid coverage despite years of Republican resistance.

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Other efforts by abortion rights advocates to lift the ban on abortion in Missouri include a lawsuit filed in January by pro-abortion religious leaders. They contend that the legislators explicitly referred to their religious beliefs when drafting the measure, and in doing so, imposed those beliefs on those who did not share them. The lawsuit is pending.