ºüÀêÊÓƵ

Missouri, the first state to pass a near-total abortion ban after the Dobbs decision, overturned that ban with 51.7% of voters supporting a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to an abortion until the point of fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks.

Missouri was one of 10 states in which a question related to reproductive rights was on the ballot. Those measures passed in seven states and fell short in three. (One of those three was Florida, where 57% of voters supported repealing the state’s strict abortion ban — but the bar for passage had been set at 60%.)

Missouri’s Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe, a Republican, had previously stated that he was prepared for the amendment’s passage and would look for ways to subvert its impact. Other GOP legislators have been much more blunt, vowing to find a way to overturn the will of the voters.

The victory — and its immediate rejection by GOP lawmakers in power — ought to drill a message into the state’s electorate.

Missouri voters have repeatedly supported, as ballot questions, issues often backed by Democrats: raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, legalizing marijuana and upholding abortion rights. Yet they continue to elect Republicans who seek ways to delay or undermine these policies.

This contradictory behavior of Missouri’s voters can be understood by the larger revelations from the election of former President Donald Trump. The early exit polling data indicates that he was elected by three key constituencies who backed him by solid majorities: white men, Latino men and white women. One of their top issues was immigration. Trump promised mass deportation and a restoration of the kind of American culture and dominance that he values. He made many derogatory and false claims about immigrants during the campaign and debates.

Clearly, Trump's values and priorities are a reflection of the majority of white voters’ own values and priorities, along with those of Latino men, and his messages resonated with these groups the most.

So, how to explain Missouri's split vote — in favor of both abortion rights and the man who takes credit for overturning Roe? It shows that white women, in particular, would prefer to vote for their personal bodily autonomy as a separate issue from everything else Trump stands for. None of his racist messages — including the lies that Haitian immigrants were eating pets — is a deal-breaker for his core constituencies. Some of his supporters may find it distasteful to dehumanize others, but not disqualifying.

Preserving their own rights means compartmentalizing their support of Trump.

The vote in Missouri does not mean the right to an abortion is immediately available again in the state. The supporters of the amendment will use the state’s revised constitution to begin to file legal challenges to the current abortion ban law. Republicans undoubtedly have their own legal and legislative challenges in the works to try to keep women’s reproductive rights as restricted as possible.

In the meantime, women will continue to leave the state to get the medical care they need after a miscarriage, unwanted pregnancy or diagnosis of a fatal condition for the fetus — if they are financially and physically able to do so.

Many women are not able to, as evidenced by the multiple reports of women who have died preventable deaths due to abortion bans in their states. Pregnancy-related deaths rose by 56% in Texas after the state’s 2021 ban went into effect. Infant mortality has also risen: "Hundreds more babies died than expected in the year and a half after (the Dobbs decision) in June 2022," reported the Washington Post last month, citing a JAMA Pediatrics study.

Today, we can be grateful that a majority of Missouri voters support a woman’s right to life if she gets pregnant.

Tomorrow, the fight to ensure that right begins again.