Missouri abortion-rights campaign turns in more than double the needed signatures to get on ballot

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Advocates on Friday turned in more than twice the needed number of signatures to put a proposal to legalize abortion on the Missouri ballot this year.

The campaign said it turned in more than 380,000 voter signatures — more than double the minimum 171,000 needed to qualify for the ballot.

“Our message is simple and clear,” ACLU Missouri lawyer and campaign spokesperson Tori Schafer said in a statement. “We want to make decisions about our bodies free from political interference.”

If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would ensure abortion rights until viability.

A moderate, Republican-led Missouri campaign earlier this year abandoned an effort for an alternate amendment that would have allowed abortion up to 12 weeks and after that with only limited exceptions.

Like many Republican-controlled states, Missouri outlawed almost all abortions with no exceptions in the case of rape or incest immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Missouri law only allows abortions for medical emergencies.

There has been a movement to put abortion rights questions to voters following the 2022 decision. So far, voters in seven states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — have sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures.

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