The Right to Reproductive Freedom initiative petition would add the right of persons to make their own decisions on reproductive health care to the state constitution. This petition is not yet in circulation because Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to certify $51,000 fiscal note drafted by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, claiming the proposed amendment would cost the state billions of dollars in Medicaid funding and tax revenue from unborn Missourians.

The ACLU took this to court, stating Bailey has “made an illegal effort to falsely increase the cost of the amendment.” Judge Jon Beetem sided with the ACLU, but Bailey still did not comply. On July 20, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld that decision and the Attorney General must now certify the lower fiscal note.

LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod believes the Attorney General is trying to delay signature gathering in an attempt to block Missouri citizens from exercising their right to vote on this ballot measure.

In a guest column published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, McLeod and Former Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff said, “Most Missourians do not approve of the state trigger law that immediately banned abortion even in cases of rape and incest. … [These] delay tactics are blocking proponents’ right to have sufficient time to gather 171,000 valid signatures needed to place their proposed amendment on the ballot in 2024.”

The League’s position since 1983 has been to “protect the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices.”