Missourians are voting on a measure that would restore access to abortion, making it one of 10 states with such a ballot measure this year. 

Missouri has long been one of the nation’s most hostile states to abortion rights. Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned, a long history of state restrictions on the procedure had eliminated all but one abortion clinic in the state.

In 2021, the last full year before Roe’s fall, only 150 abortions took place in Missouri, the lowest tally in the country.

The proposed amendment would establish a constitutional right to abortion to the point of fetal viability and to other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception access and miscarriage care.

Abortion opponents — including the state’s Republican secretary of state — had fought for months to keep the measure, known as Amendment 3, from appearing on the Missouri ballot. Those efforts ultimately failed. 

Missouri is a red state, won by Republican former President Donald Trump by 15 points in 2020.

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