The Missouri ballot in November will include an amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion throughout pregnancy into the state constitution.
State officials gave the abortion measure final approval on Tuesday, meaning it will appear as Amendment 3 on the November general election ballot, the Missouri Independent reported. The group behind the measure, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, turned in 380,000 signatures in May — more than the approximately 171,000 required. to qualify for the ballot.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is comprised of left-wing groups, including Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri, and the state’s Planned Parenthood affiliates.
“Politicians have tied doctors’ hands and the stakes could not be higher,” claimed Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri. “ … With a yes vote on amendment 3 this November, we are taking back what’s ours.”
The proposed amendment would allow abortion until fetal viability, which is generally considered to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy. The amendment also permits abortions after that point if “in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional [an abortion] is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”
The measure also states:
The Government shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decision 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 right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the Government demonstrates that such actions is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Any detail, interference, delay, or restriction of the right to reproductive freedom shall be presumed invalid.
The measure further states that no person “shall be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes, including but not limited to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.”
“Nor shall any person assisting a person in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with person’s consent be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action for doing so,” the measure reads.
Abortion is currently outlawed in Missouri, except for in medical emergencies or to save a woman’s life.
The abortion amendment would undo the state’s abortion restriction. The measure needs 50.1 percent support to pass.
Leading pro-life organization SBA Pro-Life America said the measure would “end thousands of lives.”
“The abortion lobby’s ballot measure would end thousands of lives. Unborn children who have heartbeats, feel pain, suck their thumbs, smile and even survive outside of the womb will no longer be protected in Missouri if this extreme measure passes,” said Midwestern Regional Director for SBA Pro-Life America Sue Liebel. “Missouri would become as radical as California in allowing horrific late-term abortions and forcing the taxpayer to fund them.”