JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican-led House advanced a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday asking voters to repeal an abortion-rights measure they narrowly approved last year and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape and incest.
Democrats and abortion-rights activists denounced the public policy swing as an affront to the will of voters. But Republicans contend they are simply giving voters a second chance — and are confident they will change their minds.
“Missourians deserve to be presented with better options at the ballot box -- options that are more in line with their values,” said Republican Rep. Brian Seitz, who is handling the measure.
The abortion landscape across the U.S. has been shifting since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending a nationwide right to abortion and clearing the way for bans in Missouri and elsewhere to take effect.
Since then, Missouri is the only state where voters have overturned a law barring most abortions at all stages of pregnancy. A constitutional amendment, passed by about 52% in November, guarantees a right to abortion until fetal viability — generally considered sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy — and allows later abortions to protect the life or health of pregnant women.
A limited number of surgical abortions have since occurred in Missouri, but medication abortions remain on hold while Planned Parenthood wrangles with the state over abortion regulations.
In addition to repealing the abortion-rights amendment, the new measure would allow abortions only for a medical emergency or fetal anomaly, or in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It also would prohibit gender transition surgeries, hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors, which already are barred under state law.
The proposal won initial House approval by 94-50 vote, with House Speaker Jon Patterson among just two Republicans siding with Democrats in opposition. Another House vote is needed to send the measure to the Senate, where approval would place it on a future Missouri ballot.
Some Republican lawmakers assert that voters are opposed to most abortions but desire options for rape and incest and state regulations setting health and safety standards for abortion providers.
Democratic lawmakers read aloud the written testimony of numerous residents who came to the Capitol last week to testify against the measure but were denied an opportunity to speak during a House committee hearing.
"To repeal what they have already voted on is wrong,” Democratic Rep. Marla Smith said.
Tuesday’s debate came on the same day that a different House committee heard testimony on separate legislation that would allow abortions to be prosecuted as homicide. That bill did not advance, but it generated impassioned testimony.
“Our representatives seem to be sitting up here calling us stupid and saying our opinions don’t matter,” said Chloe Mix, a Springfield resident who backed last year’s abortion-rights amendment and opposes this year’s measures.
The Missouri House debate also came one day after the Legislature gave final approval to a bill limiting the courts' ability to rewrite summaries of ballot measures. That measure, which now goes to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, was prompted by Republican frustration that a judge rewrote the original ballot summary prepared for last year’s abortion-rights amendment.
Last year, voters in six other states approved ballot measures to bolster abortion rights, and three rejected them. In Arizona, a judge this year permanently blocked enforcement of a ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, finding it violated the amendment adopted last year.
A ballot measure in Montana last year that ensured the right to abortion didn’t stop lawmakers from introducing several abortion measures this year. But none gained traction in the Legislature.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.