Here’s what to know about Missouri’s abortion ballot question before the election

After a Missouri Supreme Court decision, Missourians will be able to vote in November on an amendment that would enshrine abortion-rights protections in the state’s constitution.

The language on the ballot will be as follows:

“Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

“State governmental entities estimate no costs or savings, but unknown impact. Local governmental entities estimate costs of at least $51,000 annually in reduced tax revenues. Opponents estimate a potentially significant loss to state revenue.”

In terms of this amendment, what is “fetal viability?” Viability, as defined by Missouri law, is “that stage of fetal development when the life of the unborn child may be continued indefinitely outside the womb by natural or artificial life-supportive systems.”

According to a fact sheet by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, fetal viability depends on a number of complex factors and weeks of gestation alone cannot definitively determine viability. In a study, the ACOG has found that survival rates range from 23% to 27% for births at 23 weeks, 42% to 59% for births at 24 weeks, and 67% to 76% for births at 25 weeks of gestation. It also notes that deliveries before 23 weeks have a 5% to 6% survival rate and that significant morbidity is universal (98% to 100%) among survivors. 

There’s been a fair amount of back-and-forth between supporters and opponents — some of it misleading — about what the amendment would do in practical terms, with judges’ rulings determining that initial descriptions drafted by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office were inaccurate. In straightforward terms, approval of the amendment would:

• Establish a constitutional right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, without governmental interference;
• Remove Missouri’s ban on abortion;
• Allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient;
• Require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care;
• Allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability except to protect the life or health of the woman.

If the amendment is defeated, abortion will continue to be illegal in Missouri.

Abortion-rights proponents say that approving the amendment would protect Missourians’ rights to make personal health decisions.

“We know the majority of Missouri voters — Democratic, Independent, and Republicans — believe their neighbors should have the fundamental right to make their own, personal medical decisions without political interference,” said Russ Carnahan, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party. “This state legislative session, Missouri Republicans reaffirmed their commitment to cruelty, voting against allowing abortion exceptions in cases of rape or incest and against protecting contraceptives and IVF services. These are deeply private issues around decisions that should be made amongst family and medical professionals, not politicians in Jefferson City. We look forward to talking to voters about what matters most to our communities this fall.”

Anti-abortion proponents say that approving the amendment would have far-reaching consequences beyond abortion.

The Thomas More Society, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of Missouri Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, anti-abortion advocate Kathy Forck and Missouri Rep. Hannah Kelly, alleges that the amendment would “repeal essentially all of Missouri’s state statutes and constitutional provisions regulating reproductive care and technologies, including all existing regulation of abortion, cloning, IVF for stem cell research, gender transition surgery, and genital mutilation.”

“If Amendment 3 becomes law, it will legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy — right up until the moment of birth,” said Nick Meyers, chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, echoing Ashcroft’s earlier ballot summary that was rejected by Missouri judges. “Not only that, but it will strip away parental rights by removing the requirement for parental consent and could force Missouri taxpayers to fund the barbaric practice of abortion with their hard-earned dollars.”