Advocates in Missouri work to put abortion access on the ballot this election cycle

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• Amna Nawaz:

  In Missouri, abortion was banned almost immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Now, two years later, there's an effort to enshrine abortion access in the state's constitution by putting it on the ballot this election cycle.

  I recently spoke to our communities correspondent, Gabrielle Hays, in St. Louis.

  Gabby, great to see you.

  Help us understand here now. In the two years since Dobbs was overturned, what has that meant for people in Missouri and providers in the surrounding areas?

• Gabrielle Hays:

  You know, Amna, a lot of what we know about how this has impacted Missouri and what this looks like for Missourians comes from the data and the information that we're able to gather from other states who are monitoring how many people are coming from states with more extreme bans, such as Missouri, how those folks are being impacted.

  We got some data from Hope Clinic this week. That clinic is located in Illinois right across the river from St. Louis. And providers there tell us that 80 percent of the patients that they are seeing are coming from states with more extreme bans. They say they are seeing patients coming from 28 different states across the country, five countries from around the world.

  We were able to speak to Julie Burkhart over at Hope Clinic, who was able to kind of paint the picture for what this impact looks like for patients coming to their clinic for care.

• Julie Burkhart, Co-Owner, Hope Clinic:

  Oftentimes, they have to bring their children because they don't have childcare or don't feel that they can disclose to people why they would need to maybe leave their children for a day or two. People go to great lengths to get rides from friends, to get a bus ticket, to get on a plane.

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Now, Burkhart explained, for just a bit of context, that, just last month alone, 48 percent of the patients that they saw, she says, came from the state of Missouri.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Gabby, we did see in other states, like Michigan and Ohio, in reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, people launching successful ballot initiatives, where voters then get to decide on abortion access in their own states.

  Tell us about the effort in Missouri.

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Yes, Amna, there is an effort currently unfolding here in the state of Missouri.

  Missourians for Constitutional Freedom launched a campaign in hopes to get abortion the ballot this fall. Advocates who work with that campaign tell us that they were able to get the amount of signatures, in fact, twice as many, in order to get on the ballot.

  We were able to talk to Tori Schafer, who is an attorney for the ACLU, but also works on the campaign, to kind of explain to us what getting abortion the ballot could mean for the state of Missouri.

  Tori Schafer, ACLU of Missouri: Missouri is unique, in the sense that we're going to show states across the country that, regardless of the political dynamics in your state, folks are with you. And it doesn't — it's not a decision that's made on political party or who's at the top of the ticket in your state.

  This is an issue that is very personal. And we know that Missourians are with us.

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Schafer pointed out specifically that the impact would be substantial, given, as I stated earlier, that Missouri outlawed abortion so quickly after Dobbs and has one of the more stricter bans.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And, Gabby, we know that there is a Republican majority in the Missouri state legislature. Has there been any pushback to that effort?

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Yes, there definitely has been, but I think a little context is important.

  So we saw state Republican legislators putting forth legislation this year in hopes to make it harder to amend the state's constitution. I had some Republicans telling me earlier this year that they felt like it was too easy for people to be able to change the state's constitution.

  Now, that bill didn't go very far, but when we talk about this in terms of abortion specifically being on the ballot, legislators have taken to social media, Republicans encouraging people to not sign the petition back when signatures were being collected, encouraging people to what they call decline to sign.

  And so we have seen a little bit of that. But to zoom out a little bit, earlier this week, I spoke to United States Senator Josh Hawley, who spoke to me a little bit about this issue. And he told me, though he is pro-life, he said, the people should be able to vote. If they — if it gets to that point and it gets on the ballot, he essentially said that the people should have the opportunity to debate on it, if that is what they want to do.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So, Gabby, what about some context here? I mean, what are we seeing nationwide on this issue? Is abortion on the ballot in other states?

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Yes, it definitely is, Amna. And this is something that we're learning more about this week.

  Just for a little bit of context, we know that at least six states will have some type of abortion access language on the ballot come this fall. That's states like Nevada and Florida. But we also know that about five of them, at least five other states, have some sort of pending ballot measures that we're waiting to see if they make it on the ballot.

  Those are states like Missouri, but also Arizona. We did get some news this week that both Arizona and Nebraska, that organizers and advocates there say that they have submitted and they have enough signatures, in some cases twice as many, to be able to get on the ballot.

  So we're just waiting to see. And, for Missouri specifically, advocates tell us that they believe that we should know whether or not it'll make it on the ballot in August.

• Amna Nawaz:

  All right, that is our communities correspondent in St. Louis, Gabrielle Hays.

  Gabby, thank you. Good to see you.

• Gabrielle Hays:

  Thank you.

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