Republican efforts to restore abortion rights in Missouri

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Jefferson City, Mo. (AP) – A Republican campaign to restore abortion rights in Missouri ended Thursday, clearing the way for a rival, more sweeping constitutional amendment to go on the state's November ballot.

“Having two initiatives on the ballot creates confusion and can split the vote,” said Jamie Corley, executive director of the Missouri Foundation for Research on Women and Families. “Nobody wants that, so we've decided to end our campaign to change Missouri's abortion laws.”

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Corley's exit represents a rival campaign that Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and other abortion rights groups could move forward without. The Missourians for Constitutional Freedom Ballot Initiative enshrines abortion in the state constitution, allowing lawmakers to regulate it after viability.

Both campaigns wanted their measures to go directly to voters after a law passed by Missouri's Republican state legislature that would ban nearly all abortions goes into effect in 2022. In Missouri, abortion is now legal only in “medical emergencies.”

Missouri's Republican lawmakers don't seem interested in relaxing the law. In the GOP-led Senate on Wednesday, a Democratic push to allow exceptions in rape and incest cases took a vote along party lines.

“Every Republican in the room voted against the exceptions for rape and incest victims,” ​​Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo said Thursday. “They have become so extreme that the only recourse for everyday Missourians is the initiative petition process.”

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Voters in seven states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures. Florida's Republican attorney general asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to remove a proposed abortion rights amendment from the ballot.

Corley's proposal would have allowed abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks of pregnancy in Missouri. Abortion is permitted up to viability in cases of rape, consanguinity, and abnormalities leading to fetal death.

Corley presented his initiative as a moderate alternative that could pass in Missouri, where all elected officials in the state are Republicans and abortion rights groups have a large influence in state politics.

She said she doesn't join the abortion rights campaign, but she wants the initiative petition approved.

“Hopefully this will pass,” he said. “I think they have a very difficult campaign ahead of them. I'm very worried about it.”

However, the campaign seems promising. Missouri Constitutional Freedom Representative Mallory Schwartz said in a statement Thursday that the campaign is “growing rapidly.” Earlier this week, advocates began a statewide petition drive.

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But supporters say that even without a competitive measure on the ballot, the abortion rights campaign still faces serious obstacles.

Missourians campaign for constitutional liberties with Republican gubernatorial candidate Jay Ashcroft in court for months. GOP lawmakers are trying to raise the threshold for approval of the constitutional amendment before the November vote, an effort fueled in part by abortion-rights campaigns. An anti-abortion campaign called “Missouri Stands With Women” launched last month with the goal of ending any abortion rights measure.

“Our coalition is ready to let Missourians know why they should refrain from signing both pro-abortion petitions,” Missouri Women's Representative Stephanie Bell said in a statement. “So now we're working twice as hard to win one petition, not two, and pro-abortion activists are split on the issue.”

The initiative petition groups have until May 5 to gather the signatures of at least 172,000 voters, another big challenge.

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