Missouri voters to be asked to undo abortion protections passed last year

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that the new abortion referendum would allow abortions up to 12 weeks gestation. If the ballot measure passes, abortions would be permitted only in the case of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest. In the case of rape or incest, the procedure could be done only up until 12 weeks gestation. A previous version of this article also incorrectly said the bill included a requirement that law enforcement officials first be notified of the rape or incest; that provision was dropped from the bill the Senate approved. Originally moved May 14.

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The Missouri Senate approved a proposal late Wednesday that will place a restrictive abortion referendum on the ballot probably next year, imperiling state constitutional protections for the procedure passed just six months ago.

The 2024 citizen-led measure passed 52 percent to 48 percent after surviving a lengthy court battle. It enshrined in the Missouri Constitution “the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care” up until fetal viability, about 24 weeks. Missouri state law had allowed abortions only to save a woman’s life, with no exceptions for rape and incest.

Republican legislators now want to reverse that outcome and are asking Missourians to vote on a new constitutional amendment that would repeal Amendment 3 and ban abortions except for cases of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest. In cases involving rape or incest, the procedure would be permitted only up to 12 weeks gestation.

Abortion rights advocates crowded the Senate chamber in the state capital in Jefferson City, shouting “stop the ban” as the lawmakers voted 21-11 to approve the referendum measure in the final week of their session. Rep. Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Platte County, posted on X during the debate, “Missouri, the fight to MAINTAIN our bodily autonomy is on.”

The executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, Mallory Schwarz, noted afterward that 1.5 million Missouri residents had voted for abortion rights last year. The resolution that just passed is “antiabortion politicians … showing us they think Missourians are disposable,” Schwarz said in a statement.

Republican lawmakers have cast the 2024 ballot victory for abortion access as voter backlash between two extreme choices - one being a complete ban with no exceptions for rape and incest, and another allowing the procedure up until fetal viability. An abortion ban with exceptions for rape and incest would be more palatable to voters, they have said.

Rep. Brian Seitz, a Baptist pastor from Branson who led the effort in the House, has said Missourians deserve better options “that are more in line with their values.”

“Voters in the past few years were given the choice between two extremes, choices with no middle ground,” Seitz said recently. “Zero abortions, or what we have now, a landscape that allows for unfettered access.”

House Speaker Jon Patterson, a doctor from the Kansas City area, was the only Republican to oppose a second referendum as that chamber took final action several weeks ago.

Surgical abortions have resumed at Missouri’s Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis. But providers are still battling the state in court over medication abortions, which today is the more common method for terminating pregnancies.

The referendum that will probably go before voters next year also prohibits public funds from being used to pay for certain abortions; prohibits the use of surgeries, hormones or drugs to assist a child with gender transition; and requires parental consent before an abortion for minors.

“Missourians proved by passing Amendment 3 at the ballot box [that] people want access to abortion care,” the ACLU of Missouri said in a statement. The legislature is “literally rewriting the rules … in an attempt to reinstate Missouri’s total abortion ban.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion in 2022, 19 states have passed measures to ban or restrict the procedure and voters in more than a dozen states have passed abortion-related ballot protections, according to Paula M. Lantz, a health policy professor at the University of Michigan.

Yet the era of ballot initiatives to safeguard abortion rights may have peaked last year, according to Lantz. Most states that still have restrictive abortion laws don’t give citizens the power to put constitutional questions before voters, she said. Legislators have far more leeway.

“As we are seeing in Missouri, legislators are now countering with a new restrictive amendment for voters to consider,” Lantz said. “If legislators are intent upon passing severely restrictive abortion laws, they can engage in ongoing constitutional amendment battles at the voting booth. It is much easier for legislators to get a ballot initiative in front of voters than citizens who must go through layered administrative processes and secure thousands of signatures.”