(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) — Missouri voters will get to decide in November whether to enshrine abortion rights into their state’s constitution.
On Tuesday, the Missouri Secretary of State certified a ballot initiative that would end Missouri’s abortion ban, allowing it to appear on the November ballot as Amendment 3.
This means that abortion-related ballot initiatives are currently confirmed on the general election ballots in seven states.
If passed in November by Missouri voters, the initiative would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution until fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks, and would allow abortions after fetal viability if a doctor determines it necessary to protect the health of the mother.
Abortion is currently fully banned in Missouri with few exceptions.
The ballot initiative, spearheaded by the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, would also enshrine rights related to reproductive healthcare into the Missouri state Constitution, “including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions,” according to the text of the initiative.
The initiative needs more than 50% support to pass.
Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a press call after the announcement that it marks a “monumental achievement for our campaign, and a significant step forward for the rights of all Missourians.”
Organizers supporting the ballot initiative say that if the initiative passes, Missouri could be the first state to overturn a near-total ban on abortion that took effect after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade –the case that had provided a constitutional right to abortion access — in June 2022.
Since Roe v. Wade was overruled, 22 states have successfully enacted restrictions or bans on abortion, including enforcing pre-Roe laws, that are currently in effect. Fourteen states currently have total or near-total abortion bans.
The Missouri ballot initiative had the support of fashion model and TV host Karlie Kloss, Jared Kushner’s sister-in-law. Kushner is also Trump’s son-in-law and a former White House adviser.
Kloss wrote in The Washington Post in April that the initiative “is an important step toward that future. We have to pass it, and then we have to build on it. I’m committed to staying in this fight until abortion is safely and affordably available for every patient nationwide.” According to St. Louis Public Radio, Kloss also helped gather signatures at the beginning of April for the petition.
The announcement of the Missouri initiative being certified comes just a day after the Arizona secretary of state announced that voters would also vote this November on whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitution, after an abortion-rights ballot initiative was approved for the ballot.
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