Republicans in both states are working furiously to stop them.
Reproductive rights organizers in two states with near-total abortion bans, Missouri and South Dakota, submitted roughly double the signatures needed to allow ballot measures that would put abortion before voters.
In South Dakota, organizers have submitted 55,000 signatures in support of the ballot measure granting a limited right to abortion—far more than the 35,000 required. In Missouri, organizers turned in 380,159 signatures, compared to the required 172,000, in support of a measure enshrining the “the right to reproductive freedom.” Missouri’s language is similar to ballot measures that passed in Ohio and Michigan.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, abortion rights advocates have won in seven out of seven abortion-related ballot measures. Groups in nearly a dozen states have secured abortion amendments on the ballot this fall or are pushing to do so. Democrats are counting on these ballot measures to buoy their chances, especially in competitive states like Florida and Arizona.
In both Missouri and South Dakota, Republican policymakers are trying to stop the measures from succeeding.
