On Election Day, voters made Missouri the first state with a total abortion ban after Roe v. Wade to pass a constitutional amendment recognizing abortion as a fundamental right — but right-wing lawmakers now appear to be exploring ways to override the will of the people.
“Anti-abortion, anti-democracy politicians are going to try to stomp us out,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director with Abortion Action Missouri, told a crowd when the passage of the abortion rights amendment was announced.
Missouri was one of seven states that passed abortion rights measures on Election Day last week. By voting yes on Amendment 3, Missouri voters successfully overturned one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans, which had prohibited abortion entirely without exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Amendment 3 — which passed nearly 52 to 48 percent — establishes and safeguards the fundamental right to reproductive freedom in the state’s constitution. In 30 days, when the amendment takes effect, abortion will become legal up to the point of fetal viability, which is generally defined as the stage when a fetus can survive outside the womb, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Despite the passage of the abortion rights amendment, however, the state’s abortion ban has not yet been repealed. To ensure state compliance with the amendment, Missouri’s two Planned Parenthood providers filed a lawsuit within 24 hours of Missouri voters approving the amendment.
“The state’s people get to vote on their constitutional right, and from there, we go to court to say, ‘Here’s where we think the conflicts exist. These are the barriers, the hurdles that prevent people from exercising their newly established constitutional right,’” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of........