Editorial written by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board.
Missouri’s voters have spoken on abortion rights. They declared on Nov. 5, by an unambiguous margin, that the state’s constitution now guarantees women complete control over their own reproductive decisions prior to fetal viability. Period, end, full stop.
Yet it comes as no surprise that some Republican lawmakers are already filing legislation to, in the words of one of them, “unravel” the voters’ decision in the legislative session that starts in January. This kind of contempt for the will of the voters has been repeatedly demonstrated by Missouri lawmakers before, on myriad issues; on this one, defenders of this newly enshrined right must give zero ground.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in mid-2022, leaving it to the states to restrict abortion rights in any way they wanted, Missouri became the first state to institute a near-total ban. The procedure was prohibited from the moment of conception in almost all situations, even in cases of rape or incest.
Doctors who violated the ban could face 15 years in prison. The sole, vague exception was for “medical emergencies.” Inevitably, reports arose of women in dire medical distress who were refused necessary abortions because hospitals and doctors felt they had to err on the side of caution if there was any question whether it was dire enough.
The extremism of that ban explains why even in a conservative state like Missouri, the ballot initiative to overturn it was always destined to pass. Anti-choice lawmakers knew that, which is why they tried every trick in the book to prevent a fair up-or-down vote. Their schemes included a failed attempt to change the rules to make ballot measures harder to pass, as well as a campaign of outright lies about what the amendment would do.
That all failed and the amendment passed, by a margin of a little over 3% — not a landslide, but inarguably a victory.
The amendment doesn’t automatically create or overturn any law. Instead, it sets a standard for full abortion rights up to the point of fetal viability. Proponents now must separately get the ban overturned by the courts as a violation of the newly passed amendment. Planned Parenthood affiliates sued last month to start that process.
Even staunchly anti-choice Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey now acknowledges the amendment makes the near-total ban legally invalid. However, Bailey is arguing that various other restrictions Missouri previously had in place should remain in force, such as a 72-hour waiting period that serves no purpose but to harass women seeking abortions, as well as medically unnecessary licensing hurdles for abortion providers.
Meanwhile, state legislators have begun filing bills that seek to undermine the voters’ decision on this issue. They range from attempts to limit the newly guaranteed reproductive rights to specific circumstances (like rape or incest) to seeking another statewide vote to restore the full ban.
