Petition to lift state abortion ban reaches Southeast Missouri

A petition aiming to lift the state's abortion ban, circulated by a group known as Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, has made its way to Southeast Missouri.

The ballot initiative would revise Article I of the Missouri Constitution by adopting a new section, known as the "Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative", which would restrict the state government from denying or infringing upon "a person's right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care." This section would also forbid punishment of a woman who has a miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion, as well as for someone who helps another person receive reproductive care with their consent.

If the amendment is passed, the state Legislature will still be able to enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability -- defined in the amendment as the point of pregnancy where there is a "significant likelihood of the fetus' sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures."

"The petition is designed to get the government out of your private affairs," Cape Girardeau County Democratic Party chairperson Andy Leighton said. "What is more private than your own personal medical decisions?"

Missouri legislators outlawed the procedure by passing the "Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act" following the 2022 United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Currently, abortion is illegal in the state except in cases of medical emergencies, and any person who knowingly performs or induces an abortion will be charged with a class B felony and may have their professional license suspended or revoked.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, several states including Missouri took the opportunity to restrict or outright ban abortion rights. Other states -- California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington and Washington, D.C., -- voted to either enshrine abortion rights into their state constitution or add new protections to their existing laws, while Iowa, Montana and Wyoming were able to block their respective state legislatures' attempts to completely ban the procedure.

Signatures for the petition have already begun being collected in the region, and volunteers have been attending training sessions to learn how to effectively circulate the petition. To get the amendment on the ballot in November, 172,000 valid signatures must be gathered and submitted by May 5.

"The goal is to have at least double that," Leighton said. "The system is designed so that those signatures must come from at least six of the eight districts and, to qualify, you have to have 8% of the vote from that district. It's going to vary, but it's roughly 25 to 27,000 signatures out of a minimum of six districts."

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is a coalition of organizations and citizens from across the state who are working to "establish the right for all Missourians to make decisions about our own reproductive health care," which includes abortion, birth control and miscarriage care. According to Leighton, the Missouri Democratic Party endorsed the campaign, but several people are circulating the petition around the state who are not affiliated with the party.

"There are individuals around the state who have gone to training events and attended online events, as I did, who are being trained by others. It's a 'train the trainers' kind of situation," Leighton said. "There are people out there already circulating that are not necessarily associated or affiliated with the Democratic Party or the local county Democrats. The first person from our group was trained a couple of weeks ago and attended our meeting on February 27. It was a Tuesday evening and a bunch of signatures were gathered there. We also did a training session at our regular monthly meeting at the same time and, subsequently, others have taken the online training which is happening a couple of times a week."

Registered Missouri voters can sign the petition during the Democratic presidential primary Saturday, March 23, at their polling location. Leighton said there are upcoming signing events for voters interested in adding their names to the document, although no specific dates have been announced.

"We will have circulators who will be out at public events and going door to door," Leighton said. "When I say public events, it could be anything. In this town, we are very fortunate to have a community that is very active and has many types of festivals, fairs and entertainment events. We have a very busy downtown and other retail places and, of course, we have public sidewalks and parks. I'm not going to say you'll see an army on the streets, but don't be surprised when you see someone turn up at one of these places looking for signatures."

For more information about the petition, visit www.moconstitutionalfreedom.org.