Send it Back to the States

But not like that...

Missouri Republicans will never stop trying to pry democracy away from Missourians. This is just another tale in a long narrative of minority rule. Tyranny in the Show-Me state.

We all know what happened to Roe. Since that time, state-by-state, Americans have taken back their right to privacy and bodily autonomy. Missouri is set to put abortion on the ballot in a few weeks.

We gathered the signatures we needed to put abortion on the ballot and submitted them to the Secretary of State who certified them, but here’s the thing: I live in Missouri, and our lawmakers do not respect the will of the people. Missouri Republicans have tied our hands and kept us from good governance with a trifecta. A supermajority. But we have one remedy we have repeatedly turned to: The citizen-led petition. And that’s what we have done again to reverse our total abortion ban.

Republican lawmakers and their handlers know that bodily autonomy and the right to an abortion are issues that will win on the ballot. These same folks have tried different methods to keep voters from having the option of voting on abortion.

In Ohio, there was an effort to raise the percentage of votes needed to pass a constitutional amendment. That effort went down in flames as voters recognized that Ohio Republicans were trying to hijack the citizen initiative process. The state enshrined the right to reproductive freedom into its constitution last year.

Kansas Republicans used confusing and deceptive ballot language to try to thwart votes to enshrine abortion rights. On the ballot, voters had to vote “no” to mean “yes, I want to enshrine abortion access” which is entirely antithetical and confusing. There was a massive education campaign, and in the end, Kansans ended up with abortion rights.

Now, to Missouri. After we fought to put abortion on the ballot, many of us went to bed last Friday night devastated.

I woke up Saturday morning with my jaw clenched tight. I didn’t even notice until I took a sip of coffee. I had to open my mouth wide enough for a sip and felt my jaw pop…here’s why:

A Missouri judge on Friday ruled that an abortion-rights campaign did not meet legal requirements to qualify for the November ballot, potentially thwarting a yearslong effort to undo the state’s near-total abortion ban.

But Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh stopped short of removing the measure from the ballot. Instead, he gave the abortion-rights campaign a chance to file a last-minute appeal before Tuesday’s deadline to make changes to the Missouri ballot.

There is still hope, but damn it.

*Screams into the void*

I am one of the Missourians who collected signatures to put abortion on the ballot in November. We gathered 200K more than we needed. There was no way the right-wing, pro-birth fanatics were going to keep this off the ballot by tossing signatures out. We had too many.

Missouri Republicans harassed signature gatherers. They intimidated us. Republican lawmakers showed up to signing events to harass their own constituents. Republican policies are not popular, so they usually must resort to intimidation or outright voter suppression to win. We still pulled it off.

Until we got the gut punch on Friday. The Republicans are running down the clock. Delaying. They found another way to bypass Missouri citizens — a legal challenge to the ballot amendment itself.

I was told SCOTUS reversed Roe to send abortion “back to the states.” That is a lie. Abortion was never meant to be legalized state-by -state. SCOTUS gave our reproductive rights to tyrants in red states who will never give us the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies.

Speaking at an abortion rally in Kansas City, Missouri.

What’s happening in Missouri feels so dirty. It feels so partisan. I guess because it is both.

The Judge who ruled that the abortion amendment should be withheld from the ballot is an appointee of our Republican Governor, Mike Parson. Even further, this Judge served as General Counsel, or Chief Legal Officer for Governor Parson before his appointment. This Judge was just recently elevated to Circuit Judge in a newly created position a few weeks back.

That’s convenient.

The Judge’s name? Christopher Limbaugh. Yes, he is kin to that Limbaugh.

From the moment the abortion amendment was approved for the ballot, the lies started .

I saw a Twitter post from a megachurch pastor in Springfield — John Lindell of James River Church — spreading disinformation on the amendment. I would expect a preacher to understand the sin of bearing false witness, but I guess he couldn’t be bothered with that commandment.

Which Bible verse condemns abortion, pastor? Ope. There isn’t one.

It didn’t stop with a Missouri preacher, though. State Senator Mike Moon sent out an email with several lies presented as facts about the abortion amendment. His name may ring a bell as he is the same Senator who advocated for child marriage.

In Moon’s email, he included blatant lies and these lies were sent to hundreds of folks on his email list to include Missouri pastors who can then take these lies and disseminate them to their parishioners. Here is the bulleted list of falsehoods:

1. Human trafficking will increase. The amendment eliminates parental consent laws for minors to obtain an abortion which means that boyfriends and pimps can force a teenage mother to abort her child.
 
2. There would be no medical standards required for abortions. Requiring medical standards to be met would be seen as the government infringing on a “person’s fundamental” right to an abortion. Also, that right “shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed or otherwise restricted….”
 
3. Persons other than doctors could perform abortions. There is no requirement for a medical doctor and the amendment itself only references “health care professional” which is a very broad term that could include LPNs, EMTs, Paramedics. It could even include Dental Assistants and many other “health care professionals!”
 
4. Abortion could occur up to the time of delivery. Even though the amendment states the General Assembly “may enact laws that regulate the provision of abortion after fetal
viability…,” it does not require it. Furthermore, fetal viability is not defined.
 
5. Abortions could happen anywhere. Because the government cannot restrict or interfere with abortion access, local zoning laws would be useless for restricting abortion clinics to commercial areas. It may be possible for a “health care professional” to open a clinic in their home or apartment next to your own. When the lack of parental notification is considered as well, abortions could happen in the school nurse’s office or health clinic.
 
6. There can be no malpractice suits for botched abortions. Paragraph 5 of the proposed amendment states: No person shall be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on their actual….outcomes….  So in the process of an abortion, if the “health care professional” does anything (actual, perceived or alleged) that causes infertility or even death, they are constitutionally protected from malpractice suits.
 
7. Violation of Free Speech and Religious Liberty. Pregnancy Help Centers may be forced to refer clients to providers of abortion, especially those who receive any type of government funding (Alternatives to Abortion, for instance). This is a gross violation of conscience and would force their volunteers and employees to communicate things contrary to their beliefs.
 
8. Gender transitioning would also be a right protected by the constitution. The terms “reproductive freedom” and “reproductive health care” are used throughout this proposed amendment. These terms are also used by the LGBTQ+ community when referring to puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries. Such evil practices would be conducted on minors . . . without notification or consent of parents!

Every single one of Mike Moon’s points is a lie or without context to confuse folks. I mean, he wants his constituents to think that Missouri school nurses will be able to perform abortions in public schools.

Good god.

Here is the complete amendment as it would appear on Missouri ballots:

A "yes" vote supports amending the Missouri Constitution to provide the right for reproductive freedom, which is defined as "the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions," and providing that the state legislature may enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is defined in the initiative as "in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures."

We know that reproductive rights are popular. Having the right to make our own decisions about our own bodies shouldn’t be up for debate, but here we are.

The Republicans threw shit at the wall until they could find a method that would stick. We saw the same abuse of power happen in Arkansas, and now we see it in Missouri. They are denying their constituents the right of a citizen-led petition.

The ruling on the abortion amendment is expected by Tuesday, September 10. I am hopeful that the Missouri Supreme Court will rule in favor of the people.

We already know the Missouri GOP does not care about the will of the people. They’ve proven that.

~Jess