JEFFERSON CITY — A group seeking to add exceptions to Missouri’s near-total abortion ban says it is sending canvassers into the field to collect signatures in a bid to place a question before voters on the 2024 ballot.
The University City-based Missouri Women and Family Research Fund, which is headed by former congressional aide Jamie Corley, said the signature collection process began Friday despite ongoing litigation over the proposed ballot language.
“Missouri has the most extreme abortion ban in the country. It makes it dangerous to be a mom in Missouri and gives rapists more rights than victims. Voters deserve the opportunity to change it,†Corley said.
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Missouri law requires petitioners to collect more than 170,000 signatures by May 2024 in order to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Constitutional amendments can pass with a simple majority, 50.1% of the vote.
The effort is aimed at allowing abortion in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and the health and safety of the mother. It would legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, Missouri law only allows abortions in medical emergencies.
It is one of at least two competing ballot initiatives on abortion underway, with both tied up in court in recent months over Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s proposed ballot summary language, which has been dumped in Cole County circuit court and the Missouri Court of Appeals at Kansas City.
Although the courts have said the Republican’s summaries are “replete with politically partisan language,†Ashcroft appealed those losses to the Missouri Supreme Court.
On Monday, the high court denied the bid, keeping the lower court ruling intact, dealing a political blow to Ashcroft, who is running for governor.
Ashcroft has been at the forefront of the legal effort to counter the ballot initiative process after he was endorsed by the anti-abortion group, Missouri Right to Life.
While signature gathering has begun on the 12-week restriction version, a proposal sought by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom that would restrict abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy had not yet gone out for signatures as of Monday’s Supreme Court decision.
Corley, in a statement issued Friday, acknowledged that signatures from voters are being sought despite the legal challenges but said it is not uncommon in other states to begin collecting the needed names before ballot summaries are finalized.
It is not clear how much money the group has amassed in its campaign account, but millions of dollars are typically needed to run a successful ballot initiative.
A political action committee was formed in early November and has not yet filed reports showing fundraising numbers or expenses.
As part of their campaign, the organization said Missouri hospitals have seen a decline in applications for OB/GYN residency programs since the abortion ban went into effect last year.
The petition calls for women and doctors to be protected from criminal and civil penalty. The measure also enshrines access to contraception.
Other proposed ballot initiatives that are in the signature-gathering phase include an effort to raise the minimum wage and ensure workers have paid sick leave.
The push to get the questions on the ballot come as Republicans who control state government continue to call for changes to the initiative petition process designed to make it harder to get hot-button issues like restoring abortion rights before voters.
During the spring legislative session, the House approved a plan that would raise the threshold to pass ballot measures from a simple majority to 57%. The Senate did not take up the final version before adjourning in May.
This story was updated at 7:24 to reflect the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to leave a lower court ruling stand.