One month after Missouri approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion, legislators have proposed a flurry of bills to tighten abortion access or raise the bar for future amendments driven by voter initiatives.

Summary

Following Missouri voters’ narrow approval of a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, GOP lawmakers are moving to undermine it.

Proposed measures include enshrining “personhood” at conception, tying abortion restrictions to bans on gender-affirming care, and adding barriers to constitutional amendments by requiring majorities in rural districts.

Critics say these efforts defy voter will and could complicate other reproductive technologies like IVF.

Meanwhile, legal challenges to Missouri’s near-total abortion ban are ongoing, with Planned Parenthood seeking to resume services in key cities.

The Republican push reflects broader conservative strategies to counter progressive ballot initiatives.

  • Atom@lemmy.world
    31·
    19 days ago

    The fight doesn’t end with a ballot measure, in any state. They will keep trying to ban it forever. A similar thing happened in KS. A ballot measure was created to keep healthcare decisions out of the government’s hands, which was already in the state constitution.

    KS GOP said people needed to vote no and that it was in no way an attack on abortion. It had nothing to do with abortion. It was just about making sure people could get medical care, absolutely nothing would be done to abortion rights. Just let the GOP help you get healthcare, they said.

    The ballot measure passed, maintaining abortion rights, and the GOP, in a shocking move, immediately tried to ban abortion…twice…in 2 years.

    • Irremarkable@fedia.io
      11·
      19 days ago

      So the interesting difference is in MO it’s a constitutional amendment. Same way weed was legalized.

      That is not to say they won’t do everything in their power to circumvent it (they will. The MO state government may be one of the most authoritarian and least representative in the country), but there’s a lot more roadblocks in the way in MO than KS.

      • Atom@lemmy.world
        11·
        19 days ago

        It is in the KS constitution as well. I didn’t word it properly, but it was protected in section 1 of the KS constitution. The ballot measure in 2022 was to get rid of that constitutional right. That ballot measure failed, maintaining the constitutional right to personal healthcare decisions and abortion access.

        *“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is the direct wording from their constitution that has been affirmed several times in the state courts to include abortion access

        • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          18 days ago

          Just the fact that “we would like to remove the personal right to making your own healthcare decisions” is a legitimate platform is buck wild insane to me. If you got cancer would you support the government telling you that you legally are not allowed to receive medical treatment for that cancer? Oh, no you wouldn’t like that? Then how the fuck is this any different?

          People who look at this and still fall for the “small government” lies baffle me.