WGEM TV feature: Missouri lawmakers consider measures to ban abortion or reform the process that brought abortion access back

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (WGEM) - After Missouri became the first state to reverse a total abortion ban, some lawmakers are saying the system to get abortion on the ballot shouldn’t be allowed to continue.

Initiative petition allows any Missourian to put a question on the statewide ballot, if they get enough signatures. Most recently, it’s how Missourians legalized marijuana and brought back abortion.

Lawmakers considered two bills Tuesday morning that would reform the process. They include everything from new deadlines to the color of ink petition signers have to use.

Theresa Nicolosi usually spends her days on her rural Missouri homestead, but she traveled to the capitol city to ensure her voice is heard. Nicolosi joined the Respect Voters Coalition, a group opposing changes to Missouri’s initiative petition process.

“For those of us who live and work in rural Missouri, I think that we should have as much power as the lobbyists who spend their days up here at the capitol talking to politicians day in and day out,” Nicolosi said.

Nicolosi said the initiative petition bills would make it more difficult to put something on the ballot.

“The citizens initiative process is about regular folks, not only politicians, being able to express our opinions and make our elected officials listen to us and listen to our voices without interference,” Nicolosi said.

But it’s not interference from politicians that Sam Lee is concerned about, but rather non-Missourians.

“There are all sorts of people who come in from outside the state who come in and they get paid and they don’t care what’s in the initiative petition, they just want their money,” Lee said.

Lee worked closely with the group that opposed Amendment Three, which once again legalized abortion in Missouri. This group believes the ballot summary on Amendment Three was confusing, misleading voters into signing something they didn’t fully understand.

“We need to be fair to the voters of Missouri so they know what they’re signing and they know what they’re voting on,” Lee said.

Amendment Three was put on the ballot by initiative petition, having to receive thousands of signatures from people all over Missouri. It faced several legal challenges along the way, going all the way to the state’s Supreme Court before the matter was settled.

Amendment Three removes Missouri’s abortion ban and enshrines access to both abortion and other forms of birth control in the state’s constitution.

While some lawmakers are considering reforming the process, others are trying to change the laws started by those initiative petitions. A bill that would revert the changes in Amendment Three, once again outlawing abortion in Missouri, is being considered by Missouri lawmakers Tuesday afternoon. If this bill passes, voters would be asked if they want to reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban.

Even though Missourians voted to bring abortion back to the state, the laws still stand banning and restricting abortion. Planned Parenthood has filed to overturn those laws, but it will be a lengthy legal process. The state blocked the provider from performing them through licensing complications. A court date is set for next year.

All of these bills have to be approved by committee before the full House of Representatives can vote on them.

You can see the TV segment on WGEM’s website here.