Voters in Missouri will decide on a ballot initiative to provide a state constitutional right to abortion on Nov. 5, 2024.
On Aug. 13, the secretary of state’s office announced enough valid signatures were submitted for the initiative. The campaign supporting the initiative, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, submitted 380,159 signatures to the secretary of state on May 3.
Voters in 11 states could vote on abortion-related ballot measures in Nov. 2024. As of Aug. 13, measures are certified in eight states—Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota. This is the most on record for a single year.
The ballot initiative would amend the Missouri Constitution to provide a state constitutional right for reproductive freedom, which is defined as “the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
The initiative would also provide that the state legislature may enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is defined in the initiative as “in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”
In Missouri, abortion is banned with certain exceptions, which include saving the life or preventing a serious risk to the health of the pregnant woman. This law went into effect on June 24, 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said, “It’s about giving Missourians the ability to make their own personal private health care decisions without interference from politicians.”
Stephanie Bell, a spokesperson for Missouri Stands with Women, the campaign opposing the initiative, said, “Missourians are smart and they don’t like their freedom and safety being stolen from them, and once they learn the real truth about this amendment will vote it down.”
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, seven abortion-related measures appeared on the ballot. In 2022, there were six ballot measures addressing abortion. Measures were approved in California, Michigan, and Vermont. Measures were defeated in Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana. The most recent abortion-related ballot measure to be passed by voters was Ohio Issue 1, which voters approved in Nov. 2023.
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