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Missouri to vote on abortion rights and sports betting on November 5
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Missouri to vote on abortion rights and sports betting on November 5

Missourians will vote on whether to allow abortion again or keep the restrictions. Here’s a brief explanation of the change. Video by Jenna Jones.









Tori Schafer Abortion Rights

Tori Schafer, ACLU attorney and spokeswoman for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, speaks at a press conference at the Missouri Capitol to announce the filing of signatures to put abortion rights on the Missouri ballot this year.


Jack Suntrup, Post-Dispatch


JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri voters will decide at the ballot box on Nov. 5 whether to repeal the state’s abortion ban, the Missouri Secretary of State’s office announced Tuesday.

The elections office said organizers had submitted more than enough signatures from six of the state’s eight congressional districts to put a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion on the general election ballot.

The announcement by Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft heralds a thrilling battle this fall between abortion supporters and opponents over the future of the procedure in the state.

In addition to the abortion measure, which has already attracted national attention, Missourians will also vote this fall on legalizing sports betting, as well as a $15 minimum wage and guaranteed paid sick leave, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed.

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A fourth proposal to approve a new casino at Lake of the Ozarks did not receive enough support to make it to the ballot.

The abortion issue will appear on the November 5 ballot as Amendment 3.

Currently, abortions in Missouri are only allowed in medical emergencies – the result of a state “trigger law” that took effect in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Amendment 3, if passed by a majority of voters, would allow abortions until after the fetus is viable, i.e. until about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortions after the fetus is viable would be allowed if the life or health of the mother is in danger.

Democrats hope the abortion issue will give their party a boost at the ballot box in a state where Republicans control the levers of government.

House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade, who is running for governor, has vowed to fight to restore abortion rights in the state. In a statement Tuesday, she promised to be a governor who will “keep government out of Missourians’ private lives” and “ensure this ballot initiative is fully implemented.”

The campaign team of Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, recorded a video earlier this year urging Missourians not to sign the abortion initiative petition. On Tuesday, Kehoe reiterated his opposition, declaring he was “opposed to the radical left’s attempts to rewrite Missouri’s long history of pro-life support.”

The abortion issue came to the vote last year after months of legal wrangling and an abbreviated petition drive this winter and spring.

In January, activists launched a petition to put the question on the ballot, following numerous court battles over the wording that would be shown to voters on the ballot.

The wording of the ballot, approved by a Missouri appeals court, asks voters if they want to amend the Constitution as follows:

  • Establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception, with any government interference in that right deemed invalid.
  • Repeal Missouri’s abortion ban.
  • Enable regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain patient health.
  • Call on the government not to discriminate against persons who provide or receive reproductive health care in government programs, funding, and other activities.
  • Allow abortions to be restricted or prohibited after fetal viability has ceased, unless doing so is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

Stephanie Bell, spokeswoman for Missouri Stands With Women, an organization opposed to the ballot question, said in a statement that the proposal would allow abortions at any stage of pregnancy.

She also said it would deprive “any person who loses a child or loved one due to negligence during pregnancy, labor or childbirth of the right to sue and recover damages for medical malpractice.”

“Missouri is smart and doesn’t want to see their freedom and security taken away. Once they learn the truth about this amendment, they will vote against it,” Bell said in a statement.

Tori Schafer, director of policy and campaigns for the ACLU of Missouri, said the statement about the medical malpractice lawsuits was “completely false” and that “our amendment seeks to repeal the state’s abortion ban; it has no impact on previously existing medical malpractice laws.”

She added that the measure “guarantees abortions until the fetus is viable, with exceptions to protect the health and safety of the patient.”

Sports betting

The proposed question on sports betting will appear on the ballot as Amendment 2.

The state’s six professional sports teams – the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, St. Louis City SC, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Current – all support the issue of legalizing sports betting, as do sports betting giants FanDuel and DraftKings.

The ballot proposal would set the sports betting tax rate at 10% and allow Missouri’s professional sports franchises and the state’s 13 casinos to offer sports betting at retail and online locations.

Part of the betting tax will go to “primary, secondary and higher education institutions” as well as to a $5 million “gambling addiction prevention fund.”

“Missouri is now just one step away from joining most other states in legalizing sports betting and being able to provide millions of dollars to Missouri classrooms,” Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said in a statement.

Minimum wage

A proposal to raise Missouri’s minimum wage from $12 to $15 an hour by 2026 also has enough signatures to be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot, officials said.

The measure would also guarantee workers paid sick leave. Employers would have to grant their employees one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours of work.

The bill would require employers to recognize the use of up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year if a company employs fewer than 15 employees, or 56 hours per year if it employs 15 or more employees.

The requirement to qualify based on earned sick leave would not apply to government employees, employees of retail or service businesses with annual sales of less than $500,000, Missouri Department of Corrections offenders, babysitters, golf caddies and others, according to the proposal.

Employers would be free to offer paid sick leave that is “more generous” than the minimum set out in the bill.

The question will appear on the ballot as Proposition A.


Early reports suggest that the abortion and minimum wage campaigns remain on track for the fall vote


Missouri's abortion rights campaign submits signatures for constitutional amendment


Campaign for $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave submits signatures for ballot question in Missouri


In voting on abortion rights, Missouri could do something no state has done before


Abortion in Missouri: A look at the key claims of the Decline to Sign initiative

Clergy groups announced a new lawsuit against Missouri’s abortion bans and took to the streets to protest after a news conference at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. Video by Christine Tannous, [email protected]

Christine Tannous



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