2024 Missouri Constitutional Amendment 3, also known as the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, is a proposed constitutional amendment that will appear on the ballot on November 5, 2024. If passed, the initiative would amend the Constitution of Missouri to legalize abortion in Missouri until fetal viability and fully shield all abortion providers within the state from all liability, as per subsection 4 of the amendment.[1]
Background
Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Missouri's trigger law banning abortion went into effect.[2] Following this, in 2024, the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom launched Amendment 3, and gathered the necessary signatures to place the amendment on the ballot in November.[3]
During its journey to the ballot, Amendment 3 faced several roadblocks. A bill to increase the threshold required to approve constitutional amendments, including Amendment 3, was narrowly rejected by the Missouri General Assembly.[4] Additionally, a lawsuit to remove Amendment 3 from the ballot was filed but ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court of Missouri.[5]
Amendment Language
Notice: The proposed amendment revises Article I of the Constitution by adopting one new Section to be known as Article I, Section 36.
Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:
Section A. Article I of the Constitution is revised by adopting one new Section to be known as Article I, Section 36 to read as follows:
Section 36.
This Section shall be known as "The Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative".
The Government shall not deny or infringe upon a person's fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including, but not limited to, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.
The right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted, unless the Government demonstrates that such action is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Any denial, interference, delay, or restriction of the right to reproductive freedom shall be presumed invalid. For purposes of this Section, a governmental interest is compelling only if it is for the limited purpose, and has the limited effect of improving or maintaining the health of a person seeking care, is consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that person's autonomous decision-making.
Notwithstanding subsection 3 of this Section, the general assembly may enact laws that regulate the provision of abortion after fetal viability, provided that under no circumstance shall the Government deny, interfere with, delay, or otherwise restrict an abortion that, in the good-faith judgment of a treating health care professional, is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.
No person shall be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes, including, but not limited to, miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. Nor shall any person assisting a person in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with that person's consent be penalized, prosecuted, or otherwise subjected to adverse action for doing so.
The Government shall not discriminate against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care or assisting another person in doing so.
If any provision of this Section or the application thereof to anyone or to any circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of those provisions and the application of such provisions to others or other circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
For purposes of this Section, the following terms mean:
"Fetal Viability", the point in pregnancy when, in the good-faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is significant likelihood of the fetus's sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
"Government",
the state of Missouri; or
any municipality, city, town, village, township, district, authority, public subdivision, or public corporation having the power to tax or regulate, or any portion of two or more such entities within the state of Missouri.
