Didn’t we just talk about this, Missouri?
Hello Missouri. I’m back. I can call you Missouri, right?
Obviously, there are plenty of people working against anti-choice Republicans to protect abortion access in Missouri, but “anti-choice Republicans in Missouri” is a mouthful, wouldn’t you agree? I will call you Missouri. I’m sure that you won’t mind.
So, Missouri: Do you remember a few months back–like literally last November-when Missourians went out to vote and passed a constitution amendment protecting the right of abortion up until fetal viability. Yes, it’s true. The voters in Missouri spoke, or shouted as it were, and essentially said “Hey Missouri?” Kindly remove yourselves from our uteruses.”
Remember that? It was a great day. In the last weeks of the legislative session you’re already trying overturn voters’ will by pushing another abortion ban. This is why I write my fourth open message to you. Here are my letters from 2015, 2017 and 2019. They show that you have been on your bullshit since nearly a decade. I’ll ask you this question again: Do You Need a Wellness Check? Do you engage in activities that bring you joy? You’re obviously offended by Missourians losing their right to abortion. Because I’m concerned.
HJR 73 is a proposed amendment that would wipe out the protections for abortion that Missouri voters added to the state constitution in November. The House approved the bill last month after hours of discussion. According to the Missouri Independent, only one Republican, Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson voted against the bill in the final round. The Missouri Independent reported that State Rep. Bill Allen voted against the bill in the first House vote. )
One lawmaker touting the bill, Rep. Brian Seitz, said HJR 73 “will help foster a culture of life in Missouri, one that all our citizens can support.”
To which I say, what?
Citizens already lent their support to an amendment that protects abortion up to the point of fetal viability, which can occur sometime between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy, by voting to add that amendment to the Missouri constitution.
But that’s not enough for the state’s Republican majority. Apparently, they think voters must have made a mistake, so they brought a bill to the floor that would prohibit abortion after 12 weeks’ gestation–with exceptions tossed in for medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, as well as rape and incest.
Seitz, who shepherded the bill through committee, is basically arguing that since he believes in a strict abortion ban, a new ban with exceptions would represent some sort of sick “compromise.” That’s because he makes his decisions “from a Biblical worldview,” according to the Missouri Independent.
“I have to understand that others may not,” Seitz told the Missouri Independent. Seitz told the Missouri Independent that he had to understand how others may not feel. Can I call Brian? I know how you justify it: By shutting the hell up and listening to what Missouri voters told you in November when they voted to pass Amendment 3, which, again, enshrined abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution up to fetal viability.
Remember the viability standard? Remember Roe v. Wade? May she rest in precedent.
Fetal viability can occur between 24 and 26 weeks’ gestation, though it is medically variable. Voters wanted that. They voted that way. Twenty-four–not 12. Amendment 3 was not a vague gesture. It was very clear. Concrete. Constitutionally binding. Instead of accepting the fact that you lost, you try to pull off a legislative mulligan. Republicans are trying to control women who can become pregnant. The real evil is punishing Missourians who dare to say “no” for having sex. Republicans pretend that Missourians actually want this new ban, and their vote shows they want exceptions to Missouri’s previous ban. Seitz believes that the voters were confused and accidentally voted to allow bodily autonomy, when they wanted a ban but with exceptions. Missouri? You are out there gaslighting yourself and your constituents, saying, “Oh, no, sweetheart, you didn’t mean to support the abortion rights.” No. Missouri voters said exactly what they said.
This stunt isn’t only anti-abortion, it’s also anti-democracy. It’s not governance when politicians say that the will of the public is optional. That’s authoritarianism. This latest attempt at banning abortion was made this month. Would it surprise you to learn that Missouri Republicans snubbed voters and introduced anti-choice legislation as soon as their legislative session began in January this year? It wouldn’t surprise you, even if it wasn’t known that Missouri was always on the bullshit as I wrote about in 2015, 2017 and again in 2019.
This problem isn’t limited to Missouri. This is a trend that’s happening across the country. They’re changing rules, rewriting language and pretending constitutional amendments are just suggestions to be relitigated during the very next legislative session. They’re changing rules, rewriting language, and pretending constitutional amendments are just suggestions to be relitigated during the very next legislative session.
Republicans in Arizona, Montana, Colorado, and Kentucky are bulldozing ahead with bills that restrict abortion rights, despite voters rejecting efforts to make abortion access in those states more difficult. And in 15 states–including Arizona, Missouri, and Montana–anti-choice Republicans are pushing bills that would make it harder to even get a ballot measure in front of voters–either by raising the threshold for passing ballot measures to 60 percent (rather than 50) or creating burdensome signature collection requirements, according to NBC News.
Basically, anti-choice Republicans in these states want to make sure only their preferred initiatives, which strip access to abortion, see the light of day. This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. When you cannot win fairly and squarely, rewrite rules. Republicans are so determined to control pregnant women that they will bulldoze the foundations of democratic government to achieve their goal. They are the same people who say, “Let the people decide”–until they decide something that is not in their favor. Then suddenly it’s, we need to protect women and girls from the abortion industry and ballot initiatives are dangerous!
Let’s call this what it is: a coordinated, nationwide campaign to silence voters, erase bodily autonomy, and strip people of their power to effect change through direct democracy.
It’s not just anti-abortion. It’s anti-democracy. And it’s pathetic.
Well, here’s the thing that you anti-choice Missouri Republicans trying to thwart the will of the voters have to come to terms with: Y’all. Already. Lost. Stop. Missouri voters voted to put the Roe standard in the state constitution last November. The Supreme Court reversed Roe three year ago. You’re not only going to fail in your attempts to claw back the lost ground with these sleazy, performance-based bills. They’ll also radicalize an entirely new group of voters who’re tired of being played. You can try to change the rules. The people have already written their own. On the state constitution. On the state constitution.
And if they did it once, they’ll do it again.
