(LibertyInsider.org) – Missouri is one of several states with a near-total abortion ban in post-Dobbs America. The state only allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy if the life of the woman is in danger. Reproductive rights activists in the state want to circumvent lawmakers to make abortions legal again.
On January 18, a coalition of pro-abortion groups launched an initiative to make it legal to kill unborn babies again. Both of the state’s Planned Parenthood chapters, Abortion Action Missouri and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri, threw their weight behind an initiative that would change the state Constitution. The measure would amend the Missouri Constitution to establish a “right to make and carry out” reproductive health care decisions, including pregnancy terminations. It would only restrict the procedure at roughly 24 weeks (six months). However, it would permit late-term abortions if a doctor decides it’s needed to protect the woman’s physical and mental health.
Missouri was the first state to ban abortion after the Supreme Court reversed the federal protections granted by Roe v. Wade in the 1970s. The proposed ballot measure is being seen as the next big test by pro-abortion leftists because if it succeeds and voters approve it, it would be the first time a near-total ban has been reversed.
The next step in the process is for abortion advocates to collect approximately 172,000 signatures by early May to get on the ballot. Then, it would be up to pro-life Governor Mike Parson (R) to decide whether to put it on the primary ballot over the summer or the general election ballot in November.
Stephanie Bell, a spokesperson for Missouri Stands with Women, told The New York Times that pro-life advocates are “united” in their effort to stop “out-of-state extremists” from changing the Constitution to allow “unregulated, taxpayer-funded abortions up to the moment of birth” and overriding the state legislature.
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