Missouri voters approved a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, NBC News projects, effectively undoing the state’s near-total abortion ban and delivering a victory to abortion rights activists.
The amendment, which required a simple majority to pass, removes the state’s ban on abortion and protects abortion rights up to fetal viability, around the 24th week of pregnancy, with exceptions afterward to protect the life or health of the woman.
The ballot measure also allows the regulation of reproductive health care to “improve or maintain” the patient’s health and requires the government not to discriminate against people “providing or obtaining” reproductive health care, according to the ballot language.
Missouri banned almost all abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which ended a national right to abortion and tossed legal questions around the procedure back to the states. The state’s current law is considered one of the most strict in the country, though it makes exceptions to protect the life of the mother, and for medical emergencies.
Amendment 3 appeared on Missouri ballots after withstanding legal challenges. In early September, a circuit court judge ruled that the campaign did not meet legal requirements to qualify for the ballot. But the state Supreme Court soon stepped in, reversing that judgment and clearing the way for the amendment to go before voters.
Missouri joins a string of red states where voters have acted to expand abortion rights after state legislatures passed bans following the 2022 Dobbs decision.
Nine other states considered constitutional amendments concerning abortion rights in this election, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota.
