Abortion radicalism is on Missouri’s ballot. Fresh off post-Dobbs victories in ballot referenda to enshrine so-called abortion rights in the constitutions of various red states such as Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio, pro-abortion interest groups are campaigning for the ratification of Amendment 3, which would create a constitutional “right” to abortion in the Missouri Constitution.
As per usual, supporters of the amendment assert that theirs is the moderate position and that failure to pass the amendment will mean a complete abortion ban. But in reality, the amendment’s placid and deceptive language would force Missouri abortion laws to the extreme left. This effort must fail.
The ballot initiative asks Missourians if they want to amend our state constitution to “establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care” — the inability to use the term “abortion” transparently is suspect — and have courts presume any “governmental interference … invalid.”
Note that this language does not include any age restrictions. Further, establishing a fundamental right to abortion would force state courts to presume that any restriction on abortion, during any stage of pregnancy, is unconstitutional. Parental consent laws? Presumably unconstitutional. Parental notification laws? Same.
On that basis alone, the amendment would allow abortionists to pressure minors into life-changing decisions with no outside counsel. More insidiously, this lack of qualification of the “right to reproductive health care” might shelter child abusers who coerce their victims into clandestine abortions from facing the justice that parental notification or consent laws assure in such cases.
