Initiative to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri constitution qualifies for November vote

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri – Missouri voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.

The Secretary of State’s office certified Tuesday that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for the general election. It will need the approval of a majority of voters to be enshrined in the state constitution.

Missouri will join at least half a dozen states vote on abortion rights during the presidential elections. Certified Arizona Secretary of State an abortion rights measure up for vote on Monday. The measures will also go before voters in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota. While it does not explicitly address abortion rights, a ballot measure in New York bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care,” among other things.

Supporters of the initiative expressed confidence that the measure will be voted on after submission more than double the number needed of signatures.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said there were also enough signatures to hold the November election on initiatives that raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and legalize sports betting.

The US Supreme Court overturned a national right to abortion in 2022, triggering a statewide battle in legislatures and a new push to let voters decide the issue. Since the ruling, most Republican-controlled states have new restrictions on abortion in effect, while most Democratic-led states have measures protecting abortion access.

Abortion rights advocates prevailed in all seven states that have decided ballot measures since 2022: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont.

The high court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade triggered a Missouri law in 2019 come into force banning abortion “except in cases of medical emergency.” This law makes it a crime punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison to perform or induce an abortion, although a woman who has an abortion cannot be prosecuted.

Since then, almost no abortions have occurred in Missouri. But that doesn’t mean Missouri residents don’t get abortions. They can still travel to out-of-state abortion clinics, including those across the border in Illinois and Kansas.

THE Missouri ballot measure would create a right to abortion until a fetus could likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures. Fetal viability is generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy, but has moved down with medical advances. The ballot measure would allow abortion after fetal viability if a health care provider determines it is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

The number of states considering abortion ballot measures could increase. Officials in Montana and Nebraska have not yet determined whether proposed abortion rights initiatives qualify for a November vote. Nebraska officials are also evaluating a concurrent constitutional amendment This would enshrine the state’s current ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.