Abortion will go back on Missouri ballot in Republican effort to reinstate ban

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters will decide whether to reimpose an abortion ban next year, after a landmark statewide vote last year that enshrined the right to the procedure in the state constitution and overturned a previous ban.

The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday approved a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would overturn a November vote that legalized abortion access.

But the question that voters will see makes no mention of an abortion ban, a move intended to entice voters to approve the measure.

The decision was remarkable, signifying a major retaliatory response from the Republican-controlled General Assembly after nearly 52% of voters overturned the state’s abortion ban. It marks a critical moment for abortion rights supporters and opponents, who will both gear up for another vote on whether access to the procedure should remain legal.

“I think the Missouri voters are smart. They knew what they were voting for,” said Sen. Tracy McCreery, a St. Louis Democrat, who criticized Republicans for approving the measure with misleading language.

McCreery later added that, if approved, the measure would make Missouri “even more dangerous to be a pregnant woman.”

“It’s already deadly for women of color, but now it’s like we’re on a very dangerous path right now,” she said.

The vote also illustrates a continuation of Republican attempts to curtail direct democracy in Missouri as voters have used the ballot box to pass several policies seen as progressive, such as abortion rights, a minimum wage increase, Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization.

After House Republicans approved the measure last month, Senate Democrats have long excoriated the proposal as an attack on women’s health care. In an explosive move, Senate Republicans shut down a Democratic filibuster of the legislation while senators were negotiating changes to the measure and forced a vote.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 22 to 11 to shut down the filibuster using a maneuver called the “Previous Question,” a nuclear option that is rarely used. And then senators voted 21 to 11 to put the measure on the ballot.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday vowed to shut down all action in the Senate in response to the GOP decision to halt debate on the proposal. Before voting on the measure, Senate Republicans made no mention of the legislation on the floor or their plan to shut down debate.

The explosive standoff in the state Senate was months in the making. In both the lead-up to and the months after the November election, abortion opponents repeatedly signaled that they would push for another competing ballot measure in the future.

The proposal will appear on the November 2026 ballot or at an earlier election if called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.

It would ask Missourians to strike down Amendment 3, which legalized abortion in the state. The measure would allow abortions in medical emergencies and cases of fetal anomalies, such as birth defects. It would also allow the procedure in exceptionally rare cases of rape or incest within 12 weeks of gestational age.

While the language of the amendment is silent on when exactly abortion would be banned, it completely strikes down the language of Amendment 3. Therefore, it’s unclear whether the amendment is intended to allow the state’s previous abortion ban to take effect or give lawmakers the ability to pass legislation to restrict access.

In addition to the abortion ban, the constitutional amendment would ban gender-affirming care for transgender residents under the age of 18. Those procedures, which include hormone therapy, are already banned under state law but became a rallying cry among abortion opponents who falsely claimed that Amendment 3 opened the door to legalizing them.

Democrats have fought Republicans behind closed doors to have the transgender language removed, framing it as ballot candy intended to trick voters into approving the abortion ban.

While the wording of the measure is subject to change, abortion supporters have also sharply criticized the proposed ballot language that lawmakers want voters to see.

The question does not mention an abortion ban and instead says it would guarantee “access to care for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages” among other lines. The language also purports to “ensure women’s safety during abortions.”

Overturning the historic vote

The vote to legalize abortion in conservative Missouri was historic, offering a fierce rebuke of Republican state lawmakers who had spent decades restricting access.

The constitutional amendment overturned a near-total ban that was enacted in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

In the wake of the vote, opponents have consistently argued that Missourians didn’t understand what they were voting on when they approved the measure. They have claimed Amendment 3 would lead to unrestricted and unregulated abortions.

But months after the vote, abortion providers are still fighting state officials in court to restore complete access. In February, the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Kansas City performed the first elective abortion in the state since the vote.

It also marked the first abortion at its Kansas City clinic since 2018. While access to procedural abortions is available in Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia, and St. Louis, medication abortions are still inaccessible.

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