The League of Women Voters of Missouri is supporting the Reproductive Freedom measure that the Missouri Supreme Court determined will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
"Citizens will be able to vote Amendment 3 up or down this fall. This latest challenge to a citizen initiative petition was unprecedented," says LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod. "There's no question that people who signed on to the reproductive freedom initiative want an opportunity to overturn the current strict abortion ban and provide reproductive freedom to women in our state."
See our fact sheet on the initiative.
“Missouri currently bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother," says LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod. "I think a large majority of Missouri voters oppose that extreme ban and will vote to restore reproductive freedom and protect women’s health on Nov. 5.”
The campaign to restore reproductive rights in Missouri collected 380,159 petition signatures in just three months and turned them in to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office on May 3. To put a citizen-led constitutional amendment before voters, the campaign had to collect signatures from 8% of voters in six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts (a total of about 171,000 signatures)
"We believe current threats to reproductive rights undermine our democracy by allowing the minority to rule," says Joan Hubbard. "According to the Pew Research Center, 63 percent of Americans want abortion to be legal in most circumstances."
Hubbard, LWVMO board member and co-president of the Metro St. Louis League, introduced a resolution at the LWVUS convention in June, saying, "This resolution is urgent in states working to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom for all women in 2024.” The full text of that resolution is shown on the League of Women Voters of Missouri's reproductive rights page.
The League adopted a position in 1983 "affirming the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices."
The LWVMO state board endorsed the Reproductive Freedom initiative last November with dozens of members gathering thousands of signatures to get it on the November ballot. Kay Park chairs the League's Reproductive Rights Committee. Contact her at reprorights [at] lwvstl.org.
