Missouri Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to ask voters to again ban most abortions.
Republicans stopped a Democratic filibuster with a rarely used parliamentary maneuver to pass a ballot item that would repeal protections for abortion rights that voters approved last year.
Senate Republicans used what鈥檚 known as the 鈥減revious question鈥� to end a filibuster to counteract two measures Missouri voters backed last year. The first measure would repeal Amendment 3 and replace it with language to ban most abortions. The other repealed paid sick leave requirements in a measure known as Proposition A.
Sen. Adam Schnelting鈥檚 proposal, which will go to voters most likely in 2026, has exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies. In cases of rape and incest, abortions would have to be performed before the 12-week mark of pregnancy. It also includes language prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, which is already barred for most transgender youth through a state law.
鈥淢issouri's women need the protections that are contained in this bill,鈥� Schnelting said earlier this week. 鈥淢issouri's babies, Missouri's children need these protections. And Missouri's parents need these protections. This resolution presents the average Missourian with a choice at the ballot box, one that I believe is much more in keeping with their values.鈥�
After Missouri Republicans killed the Democratic filibuster on Schnelting鈥檚 measure, senators voted 21-11 largely along party lines to send the measure to voters. The House had already approved it. The Senate then adjourned for the year even though the 2025 session isn鈥檛 scheduled to end until 6 p.m. Friday.
Amendment 3, which passed with roughly 52% of the vote, legalized abortion up to fetal viability. That鈥檚 defined in the measure as when a fetus can survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical intervention.
Since Amendment 3 went into effect, a Jackson County judge struck down a multitude of abortion restrictions. Planned Parenthood affiliates in St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City restarted procedural abortions, though medication abortions are still not available due to the state鈥檚 rejection of a complication plan.
Margot Riphagen of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers said abortion rights proponents would be ready to defeat Schnelting鈥檚 measure at the ballot box.
鈥淭he majority of Missourians want to make their own decisions about health care without interference from prying politicians, and they made this abundantly clear at the ballot box in November,鈥� Riphagen said. 鈥淲e will not stand for more political games at the expense of the thousands of patients in Missouri who could finally access care they need without crossing state lines. Missouri voters will once again send a clear message that enough is enough.鈥�
Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-St. Louis County, said Republicans were thumbing their noses at voters.
鈥淭hey again turned down the will of the Missouri voters, the will of the people, of what they wanted,鈥� Beck said.
Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, said that Republicans were making a strategic error by giving abortion rights activists 16 months to fundraise and organize against Schnelting鈥檚 proposal. She contended that the ballot summary language is deceptive, alluding to, for instance, how it doesn鈥檛 say that most abortions would be banned if voters pass the initiative.
鈥淚 used to be a Republican. I was a pro-choice Republican, and what drove me from this party is Republican politicians' obsession with controlling women's bodies,鈥� McCreery said. 鈥�And my district has Republicans that feel the same way. That's why Amendment 3 passed overwhelmingly in my district, because Republican voters don't think Republican politicians should be able to decide what is right for them.鈥�
Once senators passed Schnelting鈥檚 proposal, abortion rights supporters in the gallery unfurled banners and started chanting. Sen. Jason Bean of Dunklin County, who was presiding over the Senate, then cleared the galleries briefly.
鈥淭hey might have more votes in the Capitol, in the legislature, but we have more votes at the ballot box,鈥� said Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri. 鈥淲e proved that before, we鈥檒l prove it again.鈥�
Leslie Ortbals, a volunteer with Abortion Action Missouri, said abortion rights supporters would make Republicans pay at the ballot box.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy to go and talk to as many people as possible to make sure that they know that their senator isn鈥檛 honoring the will of the people, whether they voted for it or not,鈥� Ortbals said.
Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs, D-St. Louis, joined the protesters for chants outside the doors to the Senate chamber.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable to me that our elected body will completely disregard what the people want. The people who sent us here. This is who we鈥檙e in service to. We always joke that we don鈥檛 have a boss in this building 鈥� yes, we do,鈥� Fuchs said. 鈥淚t is the people.鈥�
Fuchs also condemned the language banning gender-affirming care for minors.
鈥淚 want people to really understand that this is an attempt to erase trans people from society,鈥� said Fuchs. 鈥淭he way we are looking at legislation across the country, Missouri鈥檚 a testing ground, and this is absolutely an attempt to erase trans people.鈥�
Consequences for next year鈥檚 Senate
The move that brought the Senate鈥檚 session to an end could make 2026 a procedural nightmare for Republicans.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O鈥橪aughlin, R-Shelbina, said Republicans decided to deploy the previous question because negotiations broke down with their Democratic counterparts.
鈥淚 think the thing that people don't see is that for weeks, we have tried to come to some sort of a compromise,鈥� O鈥橪aughlin said, adding that restricting abortion is 鈥渇oundational鈥� for Senate Republicans who often ran for office based on their opposition to keeping that procedure legal or widely available.
Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said before the vote that he and his colleagues were prepared to jam up routine business next year, including uncontroversial bills and introduction of guests, because of the Senate GOP鈥檚 decision.
鈥淚 know it's a long summer, and I know it's a long fall, but I tell you, I've been trying to get to this chamber for 25 years. So to me, seven months are nothing,鈥� Webber said. 鈥淭oday is a failure of the Senate. But when there's a failure in the Senate, there needs to be a response. And that response can't last forever. But that response has to happen. And it has to be painful, and it has to make us all understand that when the Senate doesn't function as a body, we all lose.鈥�
