JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (AP) — Missouri voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to abortion through a constitutional amendment that would lift the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.
The Secretary of State’s office confirmed Tuesday that a ballot initiative has received more than enough valid signatures from registered voters to be eligible for the general election. To be enshrined in the state constitution, it must be approved by a majority of voters.
If the initiative passes in Missouri, it would “do something no other state has ever done before: end a total abortion ban at the ballot box,” says Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which is backing the initiative with significant financial support from affiliates of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Missouri will join at least half a dozen states voting on abortion rights during the presidential election. Arizona’s secretary of state approved an abortion rights bill for the ballot on Monday. Bills will also come to a vote in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota. A bill in New York does not explicitly address abortion rights but would prohibit discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care,” among other things.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said there were also enough signatures to put initiatives to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and legalize sports betting on the ballot in November. But he said an initiative to approve a casino at the popular tourist destination Lake of the Ozarks did not meet the required threshold.
The initiatives will be on the ballot alongside candidates for the highest offices, including governor, U.S. Senate and state legislature, meaning abortion is likely to become an even bigger political issue in the state.
The campaign team of Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kehoe condemned the vote on abortion laws on Tuesday as an “extreme proposal funded by liberals from other states.”
“Mike Kehoe opposes attempts by the radical left to rewrite Missouri’s long history of pro-life,” his campaign said in a statement.
Democratic candidate for governor, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, praised the measure and said she would “make sure this ballot initiative is fully implemented.”
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a nationwide abortion right in 2022, setting off a state-by-state fight in their legislatures and a modern push to let voters decide the issue. Since the ruling, modern abortion restrictions have gone into effect in most Republican-led states, while most Democratic-led states have passed measures to protect abortion access.
Abortion rights advocates have prevailed in all seven states that have already decided on ballot measures since 2022: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent sparked a 2019 Missouri law banning abortions “except in medical emergencies.” Under that law, performing or inducing an abortion is a crime punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison, although a woman who has an abortion cannot be prosecuted.
Since then, Missouri has seen almost no abortions. But that doesn’t mean Missourians don’t get abortions. They can get abortion pills from out of state or drive to clinics elsewhere, including just across the border in Illinois and Kansas.
The ballot bill in Missouri would create a right to abortion until a fetus could likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical intervention. Fetal viability has generally been estimated at around 23 or 24 weeks of gestation, but has shifted downward as medical advances have occurred. The ballot bill would allow abortions after fetal viability if a doctor determines it is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
The number of states voting on abortion laws could grow. Officials in Montana and Nebraska have not yet decided whether their proposed abortion rights initiatives will make it to a November ballot. Officials in Nebraska are also considering a competing constitutional amendment that would enshrine the state’s current ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Campaign committees supporting the abortion rights and sports betting measures have already spent more than $5 million each, with millions more expected. The sports betting initiative has been largely funded by the parent companies of DraftKings and FanDuel, but also has the backing of Missouri’s six professional sports teams, which would control on-site betting and advertising near their stadiums and arenas.
Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia already offer some form of sports betting, which has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018. Sports teams in Missouri turned to the initiative process after efforts to legalize sports betting were repeatedly thwarted in the state Senate.
“Missouri is now just one step away from joining most other states in legalizing sports betting and being able to provide millions of dollars to Missouri classrooms,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said in a statement Tuesday.
The minimum wage measure would escalate the state’s current minimum wage of $12.30 an hour to $13.75 an hour in 2025 and $15 an hour by 2026, with annual adjustments for inflation thereafter. It would also require employers to provide paid infirmed leave.
