Missouri voters this week approved Amendment 3, the so-called Right to Reproductive Freedom initiative, which enshrines a right to abortion in the state’s constitution. Despite supporters spending over 30 million dollars compared to nearly 2 million dollars for opponents, the amendment was narrowly approved with 51.6% of the vote and only received a majority of support in eight of Missouri’s 115 counties.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Missouri Bishops said that they were “saddened that Missouri voters chose to not safeguard vulnerable women and children by voting for Amendment 3”. However, they vowed that this was not the end of the Church’s work to uphold the dignity of all life.
“We reaffirm our commitment to walking with mothers and fathers facing unforeseen pregnancies, along with parents facing hardship in their pregnancies”, the Bishops stated. “For those women and men who have been wounded by abortion, the Church will continue to provide true hope and healing.”
Amendment 3 will go into effect thirty days after the election, and provide a near total right to abortion in the state. Less than 24 hours after the vote, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit seeking to roll back Missouri’s safety standards on abortion. In the first of what will likely be many lawsuits, the abortion provider is challenging a number of current state laws, including the state’s abortion ban that only allows abortions in cases of medical emergencies.
Other laws targeted by Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit include:
- The requirement that only physicians perform abortions.
- Requirements that abortion clinics be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.
- A 72-hour waiting period between a patient’s initial visit with a doctor and their abortion procedure.
- Mandates that abortion clinics be located within 30 miles of a hospital where they have admitting privileges in case there is a complication.
- Rules requiring abortion providers report all abortions and abortion complications to the state.
- The required submission of all tissue removed during an abortion be submitted to a pathologist.
- Requirements that the same physician who initially sees a patient must also be the physician who performs the abortion procedure.
The lawsuit also asks the court to loosen restrictions on medication abortion, including a telemedicine ban that requires the physician who prescribes the medication to also be in the room when the patient takes the first dose of the medication in case the woman suffers complications.
Planned Parenthood is also seeking to repeal Missouri’s ban on abortions based on the race, sex, or Down syndrome diagnosis of the preborn child, stating that these non-discrimination provisions “interfere in the provider-patient relationship by prohibiting abortions if a patient reveals their reason for the abortion is the race, sex, or Down syndrome indication of the fetus.”