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Campaigns are underway in 10 different states where voters will decide on abortion laws in the voting booths. One key vote is in Missouri, a state that outlaws abortion and usually votes Republican but has an abortion rights amendment on the ballot that appears to be winning support. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum reports.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans of any state. Abortion is banned throughout pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest but only to save a mother's life or to prevent a permanent major injury. A proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot known as Amendment 3 would legalize abortion up to fetal viability, which is usually around 24 weeks. Even though Missouri tilts heavily toward Republicans, abortion rights opponents like GOP Senator Jason Bean are worried the current strict law will prompt people to pass the amendment.
JASON BEAN: I hear that out in the community. I hear that all over, to be honest. So, yes, I think not having some of those exceptions, I fear it's going to pass. I think it will.
ROSENBAUM: The campaign backing the amendment has raised significantly more money than the opponents. And public polls show the measure going beyond 50% approval with key support among suburban voters like St. Louis County resident Cindy Clark.
CINDY CLARK: I don't want anyone making health care decisions for myself or for anyone else. And I think I agree with what Vice President Kamala says about this. You don't have to abandon your beliefs and your faith, you know, to respect someone else's choices of what they're going to do for their life.
ROSENBAUM: Abortion rights backers have had to overcome obstacles from abortion rights opponents. That includes lawsuits trying to knock Amendment 3 off the ballot and failed efforts from the Republican-led General Assembly to make it harder to change the Constitution. Opponents to the amendment, like Stephanie Bell of the group Missouri Stands With Women, say it goes too far and that if people have a problem with the no exceptions in the current law, that should be fixed in the legislature, not the Constitution.
STEPHANIE BELL: I think this is a legislative issue, and I think, again, if we're talking about Missourians who want exceptions, that's something that can be done legislatively.
ROSENBAUM: But Republicans hold about two-thirds of the legislature. So abortion rights proponents like Meggie Biesenthal say the Constitution is the right place to protect abortion rights. And she's also hoping that Republicans who helped enact the abortion ban pay a political price.
MEGGIE BIESENTHAL: Because if you don't, they are going to continually try to overturn our vote and our voice and make abortion illegal again.
ROSENBAUM: In Missouri, the legislature's history of restrictive abortion laws could pave the way for voters to legalize it now. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum in St. Louis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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