‘Monumental day.’ Missouri abortion rights groups drop off signatures to overturn ban

Organizers of a campaign to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban on Friday submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures from people across the state, a major step to getting abortion rights on the ballot.

The coalition of abortion rights groups, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said it dropped off more than 380,000 signatures at the Secretary of State’s Office — well above the roughly 171,000 required. If election officials verify the group has enough, it would be placed on the ballot, likely in November.

Friday marked a day of celebration for Missouri abortion rights supporters, who have for the past handful of months campaigned in every county across the state. The coalition has raised nearly $5 million since launching the campaign.

“Today is a monumental day for Missouri and for my patients,” said Iman Alsaden, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains who is advising the campaign.

The proposed constitutional amendment would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution but also give lawmakers some leeway to regulate the procedure after fetal viability.

It defines fetal viability as the point in a pregnancy when a health care professional decides, based on the facts of the situation, “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside of the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”

The campaign comes after Missouri became the first state in the nation to enact a ban on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. The ban has faced intense criticism and fear among women and medical providers.

It does not include exceptions for rape and incest.

While Missouri has grown staunchly Republican over the past decade, abortion rights remain popular among voters. Polling released in March by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that a plurality of 44% of those surveyed supported the amendment while 37% disagreed.

The remaining 19% said they were not sure, a percentage of voters that abortion rights supporters will have to tap into.

Friday’s signature drop off could kick off attempts by anti-abortion Republican officials to delay the petition from reaching the ballot. A series of legal battles with statewide officials, including Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, kept versions of the petitions tied up in court for months.

Ashcroft, who is running for governor, had previously crafted incendiary language for the ballot question intended to make the proposal politically toxic. That language was struck down in court in September.

The ACLU of Missouri, which successfully fought against the language in court, celebrated Friday’s signature drop off.

“Today, we turned in boxes filled with hopes and dreams of bodily autonomy,” said Tori Schafer, an attorney with the ACLU of Missouri. “Our message is simple and clear: we want to make decisions about our bodies free from political interference.”

An anti-abortion group called Missouri Stands with Women has also engaged in efforts to block the measure from the ballot and has called on people to withdraw their names from the petition.

Records obtained by The Star show that roughly more than 100 people have submitted withdrawal forms to Ashcroft’s office, a number that is not likely to impact the signature verification.

Republican lawmakers are also attempting to pass legislation this year that would make it harder for Missourians to amend the state constitution, partly by reducing the voting power of urban areas. Some Republicans have framed the legislation as a way to stop the abortion rights campaign.

“Despite every effort to deny Missourians their fundamental rights, this campaign has been our opportunity to put power back into the hands of the people — and in less than three months, Missourians have shown their power,” said Mallory Schwarz, the executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, which is part of the coalition.

After the campaign carried boxes of signatures at Ashcroft’s office building, Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, walked into the parking lot with a smile.

She pointed to efforts from Republicans to block the measure from the ballot.

“To succeed when statewide elected officials threw every barrier in front of us that they could,” Lavender said, “what a wonderful day to celebrate.”