Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office will place an abortion access amendment on the state’s general election ballot. announced on tuesday.
Ashcroft, a Republican, believed there were enough signatures on the petitions to approve the initiative for the ballot. He also approved other initiatives on the November ballot, including minimum wage and earned sick time, as well as other initiatives related to sports betting.
If approved, the initiative would amend the state constitution to create reproductive health decision-making rights, remove existing state restrictions on abortion, allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve patient health, and require government nondiscrimination. against people providing or seeking reproductive health care.
The ballot measure would preserve abortion rights up to the viability of the fetus before the 24th week of pregnancy, except to protect the life or health of the mother.
The group leading the ballot measure, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, submitted the required number of signatures to officials. in early May. The group said it had collected 380,000 signatures in a post on X on Tuesday.
“I’m honored to say it’s our turn to do something no other state has done before — end the abortion ban entirely at the ballot box,” said Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom. “This November, Missouri voters will have an opportunity to make their voices heard and put abortion decisions back where they belong — not with politicians, but with women, their families and their doctors.”
Ashcroft was among the conservatives who protested the group’s efforts to put abortion on the ballot.
Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, except to protect the life of the mother and for emergency medical care.
Amendments protecting or expanding abortion rights will appear on the ballot in seven more states this fall. Organizers in Arkansas, Montana and Nebraska also submitted signatures for similar ballot measures.
The effort comes after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing states to decide whether abortion should be legal. Voters in California, Michigan, Ohio and Vermont have since enshrined access to abortion in their state constitutions, while similar measures in other states have failed.
Adam Edelman contributed.