Amendment to protect abortion access will be on the ballot in Missouri

Voters in Missouri will decide whether to enshrine the right to an abortion in their state constitution after state officials on Tuesday signed off on the citizen-led initiative.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) certified that the petition received more than enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Missouri has an almost complete abortion ban and was the first state to enact one in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade more than two years ago. The state has extremely limited exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for survivors of rape or incest.

Performing or inducing an abortion is a felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison, though a woman undergoing an abortion can’t be charged. Since the abortion ban passed, there have been almost no clinician-provided abortions in the state.

The amendment would create a right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. It would prohibit any state regulation of abortion, and supporters say it establishes the right for people to make their own decisions around pregnancy — including abortion, birth control and miscarriage care — free from political interference.

Missouri will join at least five other states this fall with abortion-related ballot initiatives, including other red states looking to overturn current bans. In each state that has put an abortion question on the ballot since Roe was overturned, voters have chosen to protect access.

“This is a monumental achievement for our campaign and a significant step forward for the rights of all Missourians,” said Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for the ballot initiative coalition Missourians for Constitutional Freedom.

The amendment will pass if it receives a simple majority of votes.

Now that the amendment has been certified, Sweet said the coalition is focusing on voter mobilization and is launching a series of events across the state this week.

“We will be present in every corner of Missouri, championing a cause that we know Missourians overwhelmingly support,” she said. “As a proud Missourian who has led abortion rights ballot measure campaigns in states across the Midwest, I am honored to say that it is our turn to do something that no other state has done before; end a total abortion ban at the ballot box.”

Abortion measures will also go before voters in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota. A ballot measure to protect abortion in Arizona was officially certified by the secretary of state Monday, but there are still unresolved lawsuits.

Abortion ballot measures are also under consideration in Montana, Arkansas and Nebraska, though officials have yet to certify them.

In Missouri, Ashcroft and other state Republicans waged a lengthy legal campaign to try to keep the amendment off the ballot.

“We filed this amendment over a year ago, fought and won every lawsuit against power hungry politicians and activated hundreds of volunteers who collected more than 380,000 signatures to put this amendment on the ballot,” said Tori Schafer, deputy director for policy and campaigns of the ACLU of Missouri.

Schafer said the coalition is prepared for more lawsuits.