Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment

By DAVID A LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY Mo AP Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would seek the amendment s repeal and instead ban majority abortions with exceptions for rape an incest The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in November or sooner if Republican Gov Mike Kehoe calls a special referendum before then Related Articles Prosecutor in Trump classified files affair takes th Amendment in private interview with Congress What the EPA s partial rollback of the forever chemical drinking water rule means Massachusetts US Attorney Anyone who attempts to interfere with ICE will be investigated Divisions emerge among House Republicans over how much to cut taxes and Medicaid in Trump s bill Gift or Grift Prospect of plane from Qatar hits political turbulence Republican senators used a series of rare procedural moves to cut off discussion by opposing Democrats before passing the proposed abortion-rights revision by a - vote The measure passed the Republican-led House last month Instantly after vote protestors erupted with chants of Stop the ban and were ushered out of the Senate chamber Missouri s abortion policies have swung dramatically in latest years When the U S Supreme Court ended a nationwide right to abortion by overturning Roe v Wade in it triggered a Missouri law to take effect banning the majority abortions But abortion-rights activists gathered initiative petition signatures in an attempt to reverse that Last November Missouri voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to abortion until fetal viability generally considered sometime past weeks of pregnancy The amendment also allows later abortions to protect the life or vitality of pregnant women The new measure would seek the repeal the abortion-rights amendment and instead allow abortions only for a health crisis or fetal anomaly or in cases of rape or incest up to weeks of pregnancy It also would prohibit gender transition surgeries hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors which already are barred under state law