JEFFERSON CITY — House Republicans have taken their first steps at giving voters another chance to weigh in on abortion rights.
House Joint Resolution 54 would ban all abortions except in cases of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest. The same proposed ballot measure would ban surgeries, hormones and drugs given to minors for the purpose of gender transitions.
“Ultimately the goal, and the language, is to protect those that are most vulnerable,” said Rep. Melanie Stinnett, R-Greene County, who introduced the measure. Stinnett said her background working with people with disabilities led her to include restrictions on abortions based on prenatal disability.
Restricting abortion belongs on the same ballot measure as a ban on transgender medical interventions because both issues concern “those most vulnerable,” Stinnett said.
Passage of the joint resolution is required to put an initiative petition on the ballot. House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, said that he has referred the measure to the House Committee on Children and Families. The committee will hear the bill when it meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday
“Anything that we do really will be done in public,” he told reporters Thursday. House and Senate Republicans collaborated to create the joint resolution and a similar measure in the Senate, SJR 33.
If the joint resolution or an amended version passes the legislature, voters will see it on the ballot during the next general election in November 2026, or sooner if the governor calls a special election.
The resolution would permit abortion in cases of rape or incest only up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It also requires a person seeking an abortion to report the rape or incest to an appropriate law enforcement agency, then give the attending physician documentation of the police report at least 48 hours before the abortion.
The resolution prohibits abortions based on a prenatal diagnosis, such as Down syndrome, but carves out an exception for fetal anomaly.
Abortion became a constitutional right in Missouri after voters narrowly approved Amendment 3 in November, but elective abortions remain unavailable in the state.
Amendment 3 established a constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
”This is just the first example of out-of-touch Missouri politicians trying to undermine the will of the people,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, which advocated for Amendment 3, said in an email.
”It’s not surprising to see in HJR 54 the same fear-mongering attacks that we’ve always fought, but we are clear, Missourians want and deserve to make their own decisions about their own health care, and it’s not politicians’ business,” she added.
Prior to the election, abortion opponents claimed Amendment 3 would open the door to unregulated transgender procedures for minors; abortion advocates refuted the idea as a red herring.
The amendment directly contradicted Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, which had limited exceptions for health and life of the mother but no exceptions for rape or incest. The abortion ban became law in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Abortion became a constitutional right in Missouri after voters narrowly approved Amendment 3 in November, but elective abortions remain unavailable in the state.
Amendment 3 established a constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
”This is just the first example of out-of-touch Missouri politicians trying to undermine the will of the people,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, which advocated for Amendment 3, said in an email.
”It’s not surprising to see in HJR 54 the same fear-mongering attacks that we’ve always fought, but we are clear, Missourians want and deserve to make their own decisions about their own health care, and it’s not politicians’ business,” she added.
Prior to the election, abortion opponents claimed Amendment 3 would open the door to unregulated transgender procedures for minors; abortion advocates refuted the idea as a red herring.
The amendment directly contradicted Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, which had limited exceptions for health and life of the mother but no exceptions for rape or incest. The abortion ban became law in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.