JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri voters will decide Tuesday whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution and overturn a near-total ban on the procedure.

This measure would guarantee the right of people to make decisions regarding their reproductive health, such as having an abortion, adopting a contraceptive method or resorting to in vitro fertilization.

Voters from eight other states are in the process of determining whether to add abortion rights to their state constitutions.

Missouri currently allows abortions only in medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

The amendment does not explicitly overturn the law, meaning abortion rights advocates would have to sue to overturn the ban if voters pass the amendment.

If passed, the measure would allow the state legislature to pass restrictions or bans on abortion once viable – a sticking point for some supporters of the right to abortion. The term “viability” is used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue to develop normally or whether a fetus could survive outside the womb. Although there is no set time frame, doctors say it is sometime after the 21st week of pregnancy.

Advocates feared that not including such limits would reduce their chances of passing the abortion protections. But others have cautioned against giving the state legislature, controlled by Republicans, the power to enact regulations that could effectively end access to the measure.

The campaign, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, ultimately made room for restrictions on late-term abortions in the Missouri amendment.

Just getting on the Missouri ballot was an uphill battle. The attorney general and Republican auditor fought publicly over the amendment’s estimated cost.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued the amendment would cost $51 billion in lost tax revenue because allowing abortion could mean fewer residents. The auditor and judges disagreed, instead setting the cost estimate at $51,000.

And a Missouri appeals court ruled last year against Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s ballot measure summaries, which described the proposed amendments as allowing “unsafe, unregulated abortions up to a live birth.” “. The judges ruled that Ashcroft’s language was politically partisan.

Republicans nationwide have been I’ve been trying for years raising the bar for voter-proposed constitutional amendments to come to the ballot, as well as raising the threshold for those amendments to pass.

GOP infighting and a 50-hour record Democratic systematic obstruction in May, killed the last republican pushing to make it more difficult to amend Missouri’s constitution, an effort that was aimed in part at thwarting an upcoming ballot measure on abortion rights.

Missouri requires a simple majority to pass constitutional amendments.

THE last challenge The amendment was raised by abortion opponents and Republican state lawmakers, who argued that voters were not informed about the list of abortion laws it could repeal. The Missouri Supreme Court disagreed, requiring Ashcroft to place the measure on the ballot.

Other measures on the Missouri ballot include measures to legalize sports betting; authorize a casino at Lake of the Ozarks; gradually increasing the minimum wage from $13.75 to $15 an hour and requiring paid sick leave; and ban ranked-choice voting.

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